Hornet women picked to win MIAA crown
Emporia State men tabbed 9th out of 10 teams
By Jesse Newell
Thursday, November 2, 2006
The bullseye has once again been placed squarely on the Emporia State women’s basketball team.
Then again, it’s not anything the Lady Hornets aren’t used to.
ESU was selected as the preseason pick to win the MIAA conference in the coaches’ poll Wednesday at the conference media day in Kansas City. Mo.
“We’ve been in this position before, and I think we’ve got a mature enough group to handle it the right way, regardless of where we were picked,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “We could have been picked 10th today, and our kids are going to have high expectations. That’s just kind of the tradition we’ve tried to build.”
The Lady Hornets received 77 points and six first-place votes, putting themselves above second-place Washburn, which received 72 points.
“The rankings — there are no surprises there,” WU coach Ron McHenry said. “They had a very good basketball team last year with the Elite Eight appearance, and we were fortunate to beat them a few times.”
“We’re going to see it as a compliment to our returning players,” Schneider said, “and the fact we only graduated one senior from a team that had success.”
ESU has four starters and 80.1 percent of its scoring returning — a luxury that Schneider didn’t have in early-season practices last year.
“We have a few areas that we’re concerned about right now, but we also have some areas where we feel like we know what we’re going to get,” Schneider said. “A year ago, we didn’t have that.”
Included in that group is returning Kodak All-American Michelle Stueve, who averaged 23.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game last season. Schneider said the forward had the potential to be even better during her junior campaign.
“She’s going to continue to improve because there’s still a lot of things that she’s yet to add to her game,” Schneider said. “What she does, she does very well, but to become a complete player, there’s still things she needs to work on.”
In addition to Stueve, ESU also returns Casey Henningsen and Denisa Svarova to its solid front line. Henningsen was a second-team All-MIAA selection last year, averaging 11.8 points per game, while the 6-foot-5 Svarova contributed 9.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per contest.
The bigger question for the Lady Hornets will be at the guard position, where the team will need to replace all-time three-point leader Andi McAlexander.
So far, 5-6 freshman Cassondra Boston has stood out in workouts and should give ESU some stability.
“Cassandra Boston at the pointguard spot is a really nice addition to our program,” Schneider said. “She’s good enough to score the ball in a lot of different ways. We feel like she is ready to probably lead our team as a freshman at that position.”
Andrea Leiker, Tegan Stuart and Carolyn Dorsey are others that will be asked to contribute minutes in the backcourt.
Missouri Western was selected third in the poll, followed by Central Missouri State. Missouri Southern and Northwest Missouri State tied for fifth with 42 points.
In the men’s poll, Emporia State was picked to finish ninth out of 10 teams.
The Hornets received 21 points, which was enough to put them ahead of Missouri Southern, which had 18 points.
ESU coach David Moe was unable to attend because of his team’s exhibition game against Wichita State.
Central Missouri State was picked first on the men’s side, grabbing six first-place votes and 77 points. MIAA newcomer Fort Hays State was picked second, followed by Southwest Baptist and Washburn.