Centennial Conference Women's Basketball Guide
Centennial Conference Preseason Poll
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's basketball team is seeking its fifth consecutive Centennial Conference playoff berth this season.
After starting the 2014-15 campaign with three straight losses, Haverford rattled off a four-game winning streak to get back over .500. After its first conference loss at the hands of McDaniel, the Fords won six consecutive games including a victory over Franklin and Marshall (Jan. 29). In that game, Elizabeth Lynch '15 became just the sixth player in program history to surpass the 1,000 point mark. Following a three-game losing streak, the Fords ended the regular season with three wins in their final four contests, qualifying as the No. 4 seed in the conference playoffs. Haverford took down Gettysburg in the first round before dropping a tough one-point game at McDaniel in the semifinals.
The Fords will have to replace a fantastic senior class in Lynch, Jacquelyne Pizzuto '15, Shannon Smith '15 and Pallavi Juneja '15. The group finished with 73 victories, the most of any class in women's basketball history and was the only group of seniors to win at least 15 games all four years.
Pizzuto finished as the all-time leader in three-point field percentage (36.1), free throw percentage (84.6), assists (407), assists average (3.8), and games played (106). She's also in the top ten in points (911), field goals made (317), and three-pointers made (118). Pizzuto will help this year's team as an assistant coach. Lynch was one is fourth all-time with 1,116 points. She has the most three-pointers made (206) and ranks in the top ten in games played (103), field goals made (401), blocked shots (70), three-point field goal percentage (29.7) and assists (178). Smith was second in program history in blocks (157) and third in block average (1.6). Juneja's career three-point percentage (28.5) is ninth best all-time.
Haverford will be a young team in 2015-16 with one senior and three juniors. The lone senior, Olivia Walsh, is the captain and will be looked upon for her leadership and scoring. Juniors Madison Skerritt, Darby Festa and Clio Bodie will provide depth for a squad with 10 underclassmen.
Sophomore Sierra Berkel made a major impact as a freshman, setting a single-season record with a .555 field goal percentage which led the conference. Berkel led the team in rebounding (7.4) and double-doubles (seven). She was third on the team in scoring (8.7) and scored at least 10 points on 12 different occasions.
Samantha Wetzel is also expected to help the team after shooting over 50 percent from the floor, scoring 5.7 points, grabbing 4.5 rebounds and swatting 1.4 blocks per game last year. Anna Schrecengost was one of four players to play every game last season, making 20 starts. Schrecengost showed an all-around game, averaging 5.9 points, 3.9 rebounds per game, while making 21 three-pointers and shooting a stellar .811 from the charity stripe in her first season at Haverford.
Emily Anderson and Emily Krasnow are also contributors and looking to add more playing time. Despite only being freshman, Katie Cook, Macy Goldbach, Tori Hopkins, Emily O'Sullivan and Amanda Quintero are viewed as pieces anticipated to benefit the team.
In this year's conference preseason poll, the Fords were predicted to finish the fifth. The team received two of the 20 first-place votes to finish with 115 voting points. McDaniel, the conference runner-up last season, and Johns Hopkins finished with 136 points at the top of the poll. McDaniel was awarded No. 1 because it finished with an 8-5 advantage in first place votes.
Head coach Bobbi Morgan's squad will get its 2015-16 season underway this Friday as they travel to Immaculata (6 p.m.) before a trip to Elizabethtown on Sunday (1 p.m.). Haverford's first conference test will be at Washington College on November 24th (6 p.m.).