Women's Basketball 2004-05 Season Preview

Young, talented team kicks off new season

- (11/11/2004)

After serving as an assistant coach for seven years, Talara Burns is ready to take over a program coming off a solid 2003-2004 campaign.  Burns, a former player herself, will be joined by Shandra Guthrie, a guard on last year's team, to complete the coaching staff.

The Vanguards are ranked #6 in the California Pacific pre-season polls after making the Cal Pac playoffs for the first time with a 6-10 conference record (15-16 overall).

If Simpson is going to get back to that point, they will have to do so with an almost entirely new squad.  The Vanguards lone returnee is leading scorer Alicia Dahl (Sr., G, 5'8", Chico, CA), who averaged 13.6 points and 5.5 rebounds a game a season ago. They lost a good chunk of their scoring in Kristen List (13.5 PPG) to graduation and Danie Blackmer (13 PPG) to transfer.

Simpson will look to pair of community college transfers to pick up the scoring void. At 5'10" Nicole Hall (Jr., G, Jackson, CA) adds height and athleticism to the guard position. Two-time All-Golden Valley Conference selection from Shasta College Hannah Journey (Sr., F, 5'8", Etna,CA) is the complete package at the post position.

An exciting group of freshman looks to make an immediate impact on the college game. The point guard position will be run by the tandem of Annette Johnson (Fr., G, 5'4", Portland, OR) and Matilde Bongato (Fr., G, 5'3", Northridge, CA). At forward, Joelle Bain (Fr., F, 5'8", Haines, OR) will look to adjust to the physical play of the Cal Pac.

Also joining the Vanguards is two-year soccer player Jamie VanSchooten (So., G, 5'7", Redding, CA), three-point threat Sarah Reeves (Sr., G, 5'5", Kent, WA) and post player Kristie Allen (So., F, 5'9", Red Bluff, CA).

The team has already come together extremely well in practice, but now faces the challenge of putting it together on the court. They are a very young team, but have the type of talent and athleticism that could be fun to watch.