1998 Miracle Yearbook

by Mark Womack Lady Jacket's Perservere in MOC Freshmen add talent and depth to the 97-98 Jacket's Team It was another year of rebuildingfortheCedarvilleCol- legewomen'sbasketballteam withnineofthetwelveplayers ontherosterbeingfreshmenor sophomores. The Lady Jack- ets finished 9-20 overall and 4-12 in the tough Mid-Ohio Conference. "Wehadalotofyoung playerswhomaturedthrough- outtheseason,"saidheadcoach Kathy Freese. "We're opti- misticaboutthefutureifwecan keepthisgrouptogether." Threerookiesendedup in the starting lineup led by six-footcenterJulieNourse.Her 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds pergamewereteamhighs.She pacedthesquadinshootingac- curacy at58.4percentfromthe field and 77.9 percent at the freethrowline. Women's Basketball Team: Row 1: (sitting 1 - r) Loree Beth Fraley, Gillian Gombis, Summer Bennington,HeatherFrench,Char- ity Cole. Row2:(standing1-r)JoyWilliams, GretchenTaylor,RobinDuff,Amy Egolf, Tammy Matula, Beth Callinan,KathyFreese. Row3:(standing1-r)TaraSwaney, Stephanie Schanher,Julie Nourse, Jennifer Jones, Amanda Porter, Cassandra Goralski,Jodi Quint. 244 athletic events Nourse earned the bullc ofpostseasonhonorsincludingbe- ingtabbedtheMid-OhioConfer- enceFreshmanoftheYear. She was named to the NCCAA All-America Second Team,the All-MOC First Team, the All-NAIADivisionIGreatLakes Section First Team, and the All-NCCAA Midwest Region FirstTeam. "Wereally couldn'task foranythingmorefromJulieasan incomingfreshman,"Freesecom- mented. "She ended up doing morethanatypicalfirst-yearplayer andreallyhadagoodseason." SummerBennington,the lonesenior,servedasteamcaptain andrankedsecondinbothscoring (10.9)andrebounding(7.5).She fmishedwith955pointsduringher three-yearCedarvillecareerand was voted to the All-NCCAA MidwestRegionSecondTeam. Junior guard Heather Frenchaveraged8.3pointswith ateam-high91assistsandjoined BenningtonontheNCCAAMid- west Second Team. Rookie guardAmandaPorteradded9.8 pointsand wasAll-MOC hon- orablemention. French and junior for- wardGillianGombiswereNAIA and NCCAA All-American Scholar-Athletes. They were also recognized as MOC Scholar-Athletes. Their schedule was highly demanding. TheMOC included NAIA DivisionIIna- tionalchampion Walshaswell asthree-timedefendingregular season league champion Shawnee State. Central State and Findlay both qualified for theNAIADivisionINationals, andLibertywasoneofonlytwo unbeaten NCAA Division I teamsinthecountry. Blackburn j uniorGillianGombisshootsoverthe defender for two points(right).