By Sean Giggy
Herald Press Sports Editor

The Huntington University women’s basketball team is seeing double. Well, nearly double. 

After playing the 2007-2008 season with only seven players on their roster, the Foresters enter this season with nearly twice as many women on the team with 13. 

With the loaded roster, the women will be looking to make just the second trip to the NAIA National Tournament in school history after coming close many times before. 

“We’ve only been to the NAIA tournament once and that was in 1993-1994,” says Forester head coach Lori Culler. “Three years ago we were ranked 24th and the 23rd ranked team got the last spot. I had five seniors that year.” 

Huntington will be looking to replace Kendra Stahl, the lone senior on last year’s team.  Stahl averaged seven points and nearly three rebounds a game. 

“She really provided a lot of leadership on the floor,” Culler says. “She wasn’t a flashy player but she was a really good defender and had a head for the game. You need some players like that on your team that are willing to set screens and do the dirty work and she was one of those kind of players.” 

The Foresters also lost Erica Yost, who came off the bench to averaged 8.7 points and 3.3 boards last season.  Yost transferred to Mid-Central Conference rival Goshen College for her final two years of college basketball. 

“Erica came off the bench for us and was probably one of our better long range shooters, so I think that is definitely an aspect of her game that we’ll miss,” says Culler. 

Although the Foresters have lost two key players, they return four of five starters from a team that surpassed early expectations a season ago.  The women were picked to finish fifth in the MCC last year but ended the year fourth in the conference and picked up nine votes in the final NAIA national rankings. 

With several key returners and a talented class of freshmen, the Foresters are looking to continue their upward swing.  “The five returners all have another year of experience and a lot of playing time under their belts, so I expect that they will be able to step up their games to the next level.” 

The Foresters return their three leading scorers from last season, Jenna Donaldson, Courtney Beerbower and Laruen Davenport. 

Donaldson led the women in scoring with over 14 points a game while averaging over six rebounds.  Beerbower was the leading rebounder with nearly seven boards per game, and she was right behind Donaldson in scoring at 13.9 points per game. 

“Jenna led us in scoring last year and she was our second leading rebounder,” Culler says. “She is probably our best long-range shooter on the roster. Courtney was right behind her in scoring and was our leading rebounder. In the second half of the season, Courtney really started taking charge on the boards and ended up leading the conference in offensive rebounds per game.  Hopefully she’ll pick up where she left off.” 

Davenport ran the point last year for the women leading the team with 115 assists while scoring 12.4 points per game. 

“Lauren is the glue that keeps us together,” says Culler. “She had an outstanding year for us last year. In high school and in her first two years here, she wasn’t asked to be a scorer, but last year, we really needed her to be. She also led the team in assists and did a phenomenal job of taking care of the majority of the ball handling duties.  Her Second Team All-Conference honors were well deserved.”

Brittany Bateman and Ryleigh Carr are the final two returning players for the Foresters. 

As a starter for the Foresters, Bateman averaged 6.4 points a game and was second on the team with 82 assists.  “Brittney is a tenacious defender and we relied on her a lot to contain opponents’ point guards,” says Culler.  “She also improved her offensive output from her freshman year and will hopefully be able to raise her game another level this season." 

Carr came off the bench to average four points and four boards per game. Carr battled injuries most of last season and is now facing another surgery this fall.  She will be expected to return in early January.  

“Ryleigh had several leg problems last year which forced us to limit her minutes at times,” says Culler.  “Unfortunately those problems have resurfaced again this year and they require surgery to fix.  We’ll miss her the first two months of the season, but her return will give us a boost as we enter the main portion of the conference schedule in January." 

So with only four returning players available as the season begins, a freshman will be in the Foresters’ starting line-up, and Culler will have many to choose from.  There are eight newcomers to this year’s team and each one has a different combination of skills to offer. 

Two of those freshmen, Brita Kuiper and Kelsey Green, are expected to add early-season depth to the Forester frontcourt. 

“Brita is a slasher-type player,” Culler says. “She averaged 14 rebounds a game as a senior last year.  In practice so far, she has shown that double-digit rebounds could be a possibility at this level too.  She just works really hard at it.” 

Kelsey has shown a lot of potential in the post with solid moves and a pretty good mid-range jumper too.” 

With the departure of Yost, the Foresters are searching for some long-range shooters. Yost knocked down 29 three-pointers last year, tops on the team. 

“In order for us to be successful, we need to develop some outside shooting help,” Culler says. “A few that have shown potential in the pre-season have been Teirenney Fincher, Brandi Gower and Sarah Miller. Unfortunately, Teirenney and Brandi are about five foot two so they’re going to have to work really hard to get their shots off, but if they have time and can get set, they are usually pretty good from out there.”

Ebony Robinson will also add depth to the backcourt and battle for time behind Davenport. 

“Ebony is very quick, handles the ball well and sees the floor well,” says Culler. “She also has some of the quickest hands I’ve seen which can create havoc for an opponent’s offense.  She, along with Brandi and Sarah, will be vying for minutes to back up Lauren at the point guard spot.” 

The final two newcomers, Nichele Powell and Haleigh Osborne, will add depth in the post. 

“Haleigh and Nichele are both players who give us strength, power and size in the post,” says Culler. “They both are capable of playing a physical game, it’s just a matter of them gaining the experience they need to learn how to use those abilities to their fullest.” 

Topping the list of the Foresters’ goals this season is a trip to the NAIA National Tournament, which would be just the second time in school history.  There are two routes they could travel to get there, either an automatic invitation by winning the conference tournament title or by ending the season ranked in the NAIA’s Top 25 and receiving an at-large bid. 

Culler believes the ladies’ tough non-conference schedule will help them get through the always-tough Mid-Central College Conference and earn a tournament berth. 

“This year we’ve got one of the toughest schedules that we’ve ever had,” says Culler. “If we’re ever going to gain the respect of the national raters so that they’ll include us among the Top 25 teams in the nation, then we have to play teams that participated in last year’s national tournament or teams that are nationally ranked and beat enough of them to make a statement.”

The Foresters’ schedule is loaded with teams that have been perennial powerhouses, including NAIA division one Georgetown College, division two foes Aquinas College, Cornerstone University and Ohio Dominican University as well as conference rivals St. Francis, Indiana Wesleyan, Taylor and Bethel. 

“It (pre-conference schedule) will definitely help us gain some recognition if we can come out on top in a lot of these contests,” Culler says. “There is no doubt that the MCC is one of the best, if not the best conference in the nation and in order to get your team prepared to play against that type of competition, a tough schedule is a must.” 

After years of being overlooked, the Foresters hope that this season will be different. In the preseason conference rankings, the women were picked to finish fourth. They will be looking to exceed those expectations again this year.  But to do so, they know they need to win the key games. 

“In recent years, the conference has had three or four teams ranked in the top 25,” says Culler. “Usually, if we were the fifth team in the standings, then four get ranked. If we’re the fourth team, then three get ranked.  We just can’t seem to get over the hump. For us to gain the respect needed to earn a spot in the rankings, we have to upset a few of the top MCC teams and beat the ones that are on either side of us in the standings.” 

Culler believes the competitiveness of this year’s newcomers along with the leadership of returning players will make this year’s team very successful. 

“I’ve got a group of kids that are hard working and eager to learn and freshmen that want to contribute. The upperclassmen are doing a great job of leading and trying to make us a cohesive unit.” 

The women are used to the Forester men’s team grabbing headlines and making it to the national tournament year in and year out.  But, this season, the women hope to reach the national tourney and put both Forester teams on the national map. 

With both teams in the spotlight, then maybe everyone will be seeing double.