2012 Women’s Basketball Preview: Gulls Tabbed Third in CCC Poll

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Endicott has been voted to finish third in this year's Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball standings, according to the preseason poll released Monday by CCC Commissioner Gregg M. Kaye. Voting for the preseason poll was conducted among the league's head women's basketball coaches. 

The Gulls received two first place votes, finishing the voting with 78 points, behind defending conference champion Salve Regina, who received seven of a possible 10 first place votes, and the University of New England. Following the Gulls was Roger Williams, Western New England, Curry and Eastern Nazarene. Nichols, Gordon and Wentworth rounded out the ten spots available.   

The 2012-13 Endicott women's basketball team has unfinished business from last season, when they reached their third Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship game in school history. The Gulls would like to return there this year and reverse the outcome, earning the first conference title and NCAA berth in school history.

For a team with as much youth as the Gulls, Endicott made great strides last season, posting an 18-12 record and a 12-6 conference mark. In addition to their run in the CCC tournament, which included travelling to Biddeford, Maine and knocking off the top seeded University of New England, Endicott also earned an eighth consecutive trip to the ECAC Division III New England tournament.

The youth starts with Brittany Hutchinson, just in her second year as a Head Coach, and continues to the team, which lost just one senior from last season and has only one graduating senior entering this year. The Gulls started four sophomores last year, but Hutchinson says that the breadth of playing experience for them allows her to treat all of her players like upperclassmen.

The most experience comes at the guard position, which includes both team captains, Jen McBrien (Medfield, Mass.) and Ashley Walenta (Plainfield, Conn.). McBrien is the lone senior on the team and will replace the graduated Nicole Heffernan as a versatile guard who is a vocal player that leads by example. McBrien is clicking in her game this pre-season and also being a true role model and pick-me-up for younger players both on and off the court.

Walenta, who struggled with injuries last year, is a lightning quick point guard who can slash to the basket and communicate well while making good decisions with the ball. With Walenta healthy again, Hutchinson believes her true point guard abilities will shine and that Walenta will make huge contributions for this team.

Also pitching in at the guard position will be junior Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.), a point guard by training who also played the two and three positions last year and is a great ball-handler with quick feet, and sophomore Katelyn Wright (Sudbury, Mass.), who has a great shooting touch and can run the fast break. Wright was one of the top outside shooters last year, hitting 16-42 (38.1%) from behind the arc.

Along with Wright, Endicott's best shooters are junior forward/guard Jen White (Lisbon, N.H.) and junior forward Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.), both All-CCC selections a season ago.

Crough led the team in scoring, averaging 13.2 points per game and shot over 38% from the field. In addition to her prowess as a shooter, Crough has a great work ethic and worked to improve her inside game and defensive skills last year, become the best defender on the team and averaging a block a game by the end of the season.

White, who will play more guard this year after playing almost exclusively forward last season, averaged over ten points a game and tied with Wright for the best three-point percentage, hitting 37-97 from downtown. She is a versatile athlete and can create and defend in the paints in addition to having the green light if she has on open shot.

Crough will be joined in the paint by All-CCC selection Jordan Ferland (Charlestown, N.H.), a long and athletic forward who led the team with 1.4 blocks per game last year and also averaged over eight points and five rebounds a night.

The front court will see the likes of Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.) and Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) return to action. Whall emerged as a freshman force last season, averaging almost ten points a game in CCC play and collecting 153 rebounds in the season. She is also a great free-throw shooter at 76 percent and not afraid to get to the line, as she did so a team-high 137 times last year. Manning is becoming more consistent in her play and has the potential to be a big impact player for the Gulls.

Complimenting the returning members is a class of five freshman recruits, many of whom should make an immediate impact on the court. Hutchinson is excited about a class that includes shooting guard Nicole Catizone from Arlington Catholic and two six footers, forward McKenzie Farquharson, and Kelsey Cuddy, who is a good shooter and plays well in the post.

The Gulls will once again challenge themselves with one of the toughest schedules in New England, both in and out of the CCC. They will begin their season at a tip-off tournament that includes Connecticut College and Eastern Connecticut State before opening the conference season with a home game against Salve Regina in a rematch of last year's title game. Other tough matchups in the conference will include games against UNE and Roger Williams, both of whom the Gulls knocked off in last year's postseason.

For Hutchinson and the Gulls, the ultimate goal is to return to the championship game and emerge with a victory, but that comes with so many smaller goals along the way, which is why Hutchinson stresses focusing on one opponent at a time.

"We need to use today to prepare for tomorrow and use tomorrow as an opportunity to get better and prepare for the next day," says Hutchinson. "The idea is to create a championship culture where we can excel in these situations first and then get there and actually do it."

Endicott opens their 2012-13 season this weekend at the Eastern Connecticut State University tip-off tournament. They will then travel to MIT on Tuesday before a huge conference and home opener at 6:00 pm on November 28^th against Salve Regina.

2012-2013 CCC PRESEASON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL POLL

Teams received 10 points for every first place vote received, nine points for second place votes, eight points for third place votes, down to one point for a last place vote. First place votes are shown in parentheses.