www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091113/SPORTS36/911130348Marist women's basketball loaded for another title run
By Ken McMillan
Times Herald-Record
November 13, 2009POUGHKEEPSIE — Here's a scary thought for opponents, offered by Marist women's basketball coach Brian Giorgis.
"Whatever we have, we have a lot of,'' Giorgis said. "I can go to my 13th kid and feel very confident putting them in.''
The Red Foxes lost just one player from last season, but three of five starting spots are up for grabs, proof that Giorgis continues to out-recruit the talent he already has. It helps that Marist (29-4 last season) has won the last four, and five of the last six, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament titles, and produced two NCAA tourney wins in 2007 and one in 2008.
Senior forward Rachele Fitz is the two-time MAAC player of the year and the preseason favorite to repeat. She was an honorable mention All-America pick and the Metropolitan Division I player of the year last season after leading the MAAC in scoring (20.5) and rebounding (9.3) average. Fitz most assuredly has a pro career ahead of her, and has been scouted by the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.
"She's more assertive on the perimeter, a little more comfortable, and still gives us our stuff inside,'' Giorgis said of Fitz. "She never gets flustered, she just keeps going at you.''
The other player assured of a starting spot is junior guard Erica Allenspach, a first-team MAAC preseason all-star. The consummate team player for two seasons, Allenspach will be counted on to fill part of the void left by Julianne Viani, who is now playing professionally in Armenia. Allenspach averaged almost nine points and four boards last season.
"It's a lot more than people realize, what we lost,'' Giorgis said of Viani's absence. "Not only do we lose the fifth-leading scorer in school history but also a top-five assist person in school history. There are so many things she did with the ball that in the first month (of this preseason) we have missed and we have to make up for her passing ability and her defensive ability. We're not trying to do it with one person; we're trying to do it collectively as a group, hoping a number of people step up.''
Viani, the 2009 MAAC tourney MVP, took one out of every five shots and averaged 33 minutes per game. She took twice as many 3-pointers than anyone else on the team.
The center position will be manned by a five-player committee, with Newburgh's Emily Stallings one of the lead candidates to start — she started last week's scrimmage with Army but may give way to a better ball-handler in Brandy Gang for Friday's Preseason WNIT opener against a North Carolina A&T squad that pressures the whole floor.Giorgis said Stallings, who averaged two points, two rebounds and nine minutes in her freshman season, is his most-improved player. The John S. Burke Catholic graduate is in better shape than last season, and she is asserting herself more on the floor. The two things that hurt the sophomore is pressing too hard on the floor, leading to mistakes, and the fact she's only six-foot — Giorgis says she makes up for it, though, with "her guile and basketball IQ.''
Gang and freshman Kelsey Beynnon are 6-foot-2, junior center Maria Laterza is 6-3 and freshman Kate Oliver from Australia is 6-4. Gang averaged 5.6 points and 3.1 rebounds. Laterza, who made 31 starts as a sophomore and averaged 3.6 points and 4.4 rebounds, has also made tremendous strides in her game.
Junior Elise Caron started 31 games at the point last season, but she will come off the bench at the outset in favor of sophomore Kristine Best, who has had a strong preseason. Giorgis said Caron is still one of the best off-ball defenders in the league and has improved her shot.
The starting spot at the three will go to sophomore Corielle Yarde. Yarde averaged 4.3 points and was a 42 percent field goal shooter and 36 percent from 3-point range.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
MARIST women's roster
Seniors — Brittany Engle, G; Rachele Fitz, F; Lynzee Johnson, G/F
Juniors — Erica Allenspach, G; Elise Caron, G; Maria Laterza, C
Sophomores — Kristine Best, G; Caroline Feeley, G; Brandy Gang, F; Katheryn Lyons, G; Emily Stallings, F; Corielle Yarde, G
Freshmen — Kelsey Beynnon, F; Kate Oliver, F
