1997 Miracle Yearbook

One Challenging The Cedarville women's basketball team faced an extremely challenging 1996-1997 season. The women did not backdown,butinsteadtookeachgameas an opportunity to gain experience and steadily improve. Itisimpossibleto measure manyofthe improvements simply by a scale of wins and losses. The Lady Yellow Jackets lacked some of the leadership on the courtwhichthey had thepreviousseason and they also suffered a variety ofinju- ries. The women worked hard in spite of adversity. Assistant Professor of Physi- cal Education and Head Coach Kathy Freese spoke highly of the team's work ethic and desire to improve. "The team worked hard. There were tough times, but we have tough times in life and it is during those times that we call upon the Lordsothatwecan witnessthegrowthhe brings about," said Freese. She was al- ways proud of the way her team con- stantly demonstrated strong Christian character both on and offthe court. Season Women's Basketball Theteam picked up three oftheirfour wins early in the season, and all of the winscameathome. Although this year's team was without the help of three se- niors who contributed greatly in the pre- vious season, the current seniors pro- vided many solid performances for the team. Co-captainsAmyBathrickand Jill Detwiler were the leading scorersfor the Lady Yellow Jackets,and each received special honors for their play in the Con- ference. Bathrick was named to the first team All Conference(MOC)and was fifteenth in rebounding; Detwiler made the second team. Freese said,"The two captains did an excellent job with the team as far as their leadership off the floorandtheircontributiononthecourt." Junior Summer Bennington brought ex- perience to the team's inside game. The team alsohad valuablecontributionsfrom the sophomore duo of Heather French and Gillian Gombis. Like the men's basketball team, the women had many new freshmen in the ranks; the total was six. Charity Cole provided a much needed offensive spark at times with her ability to steal the ball, move it quickly,and create openingsfor her teammates,while Loree Beth Fraley maintained a good outside game. Jodi Quint also developed her game in the post grabbing rebounds through many quality minutes. The addition of these freshmen and Junior transfer Jodee Howard definitely make the outlook for next year bright. Thecombination ofyoung playersand manyinjuries wouldhavebeenenoughto make any season seem difficult, but the added difficulty of the Yellow Jacket's schedule increased the challenge. Not only wasthe Conferencecompetition ex- Scott Huck row 1 (1-r): Heather French,Gillian Gombis,Amy Egolf.row 2: Student-Trainer Brenda Johnson,Jodie Howard,Robyn Paulin,Jill Detwiler,Amy Bathrick,Summer Bennington, Elizabeth Hamilton, Student Assistant Tammi Matula. row 3: Head Coach Kathy Freese,Team Chaplain Martha Baldwin,Manager Kelly Ford,Jessica Hooper,Natalie Royer,Loree Beth Fraley,Charity Cole,Tara Swaney,Jodi Quint,Scorekeeper Theresa Olson, Assistant Coach B Callinan, Assistant Coach Joy Williams. 218 airstalas