The Adrian College women’s basketball team resumes its season with the Bulldogs 2020-21 road opener at Defiance College on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. non-conference tip-off. Here’s a preview of the game:
Defiance holds a slim 14-13 all-time lead since the series started Jan. 12, 1961, with a 58-17 Bulldogs win at home. The Bulldogs are 3-6 lifetime at Defiance with their last road win coming on Dec. 28, 2005, 63-56. Defiance used to be a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association with Adrian from 1997 to 2000, and went 3-1 against the Bulldogs in conference play.
Defiance is a member of the NCAA Division III HCAC, with member institutions located in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The Yellow Jackets finished 8-17 last season, including a 6-12 HCAC mark for seventh-place tie. Defiance was 6-5 at home, but 1-13 on the road. Defiance returns its top-six scorers in junior Taylor Day (9.1 ppg), sophomores Lexie Sparks (8.1), Taylor Steinbrunner (7.4), Briana Townley (5.4), Josi Wolf (5.2) and senior Kalyn Pickens (4.7).
As a team, DC averaged 55.1 points of scoring offense and 38.4 rebounds while giving up 65.2 ppg and 38.9 rpg. They shot 35.1 percent from the field and gave up 19.6 turnovers per game. Allan King Jr. (Bluffton University ’03) enters his third season as the head coach with a 17-35 school record.
TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Head coach Kathy Morris is in her 29th season at the helm of the Bulldogs as the all-time leader in wins (301) in program history. She’s also one of the longest-tenured coaches of any sport at the College.
- The Bulldogs return four of five starters among 15 student-athletes who saw action last season, including seniors G Rachel Bucher (6.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.5 spg), F Sha’Trice Graves (7.6 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 2.4 bpg) and juniors F Addison Bergman (7.5 ppg, 44.6 FG%, 6.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.3 bpg), G Rylee Campbell (9.6 ppg, 1.9 apg).
- Senior Chelsea Palmer had a terrific year in her first season in a Bulldogs uniform as she competed in basketball at the intercollegiate level for the first time in three years, coming off the bench to average 9.8 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 47.0 percent from the field. She played her 2016-17 freshman season at Jackson College.
- In the Nov. 7 season opener versus Manchester, Bucher posted her first double-double since she had 12 points and 12 rebounds in a 62-55 win at Calvin on January 26, 2019.
- Graves, who led the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in rebounding average at 10.6 per contest and ranked tied for 37th in NCAA Division III with 2.36 blocks per game last season, holds school records for blocks in a game (8 vs Manchester on Nov. 9, 2018), season (74 in 2019) and career (163). She also currently ranks fourth in school history with 586 rebounds–trailing third-place Ann Terpstra who had 649 in 73 games from 1996 to 2000.
- Bucher is the program’s second-active career scoring leader with 428 points in 74 games played behind Graves, who has 434 in 71 contests. Bucher is the current all-time leader in assists (126) and steals (93).
- Sophomore Kiara Wernette came off the bench and junior teammate Taylor Besgrove both had a career-high 12 points at home against Manchester on Saturday, Nov. 7.
- Besides Defiance, Adrian also has Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference members Bluffton (Dec .7 and Dec. 9 on the road), Defiance again (Dec. 12 at home), Rose-Hulman (Dec. 5 at home) and Transylvania (Jan. 9 on the road) on the schedule so far.
- Campbell last season listed 12th in MIAA three-point field goal percentage with a 30.9 percent clip. She was fourth with 54 treys as she attempted 175.
- As a team, the Bulldogs’ MIAA statistical rankings were first in blocks (5.1, 128 total–second in school history), second in defensive rebounds per game (28.0), fourth in rebounding average (40.9), fourth in rebounding margin (+3.3) and fifth in steals (7.7).
Bergman notched her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in her first-ever start to help propel Adrian to a 61-40 non-conference victory over Defiance at home on Dec. 18, 2019. Graves pulled down a game-best 11 rebounds to go with two steals and two blocked shots. Bucher recorded 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals with a block. Both teams struggled to get the ball in the basket, but Adrian got on track in the second quarter when they outscored the Yellow Jackets 17-5 to take a 28-14 lead at halftime. They built as much as a 25-point cushion in the second half.
Adrian moved to 14-15 in season openers–including three consecutive wins–during the Morris coaching era after the Bulldogs downed Manchester, 77-51, on Nov. 7. Bucher scored six of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and pulled down a career-best 15 rebounds. She also had a team-high four assists.
Adrian used a 28-11 fourth-quarter run to turn a 49-40 lead after three quarters into a blow-out. The Bulldogs made 10 of 13 field goals for a sizzling .769 shooting percentage while holding MU to just 27.8 (5-18) in the final 10 minutes. For the game, Adrian shot 50.9 percent (28-55) from the field and held Manchester to 30.2 (19-63). The Bulldogs also outrebounded MU, 47 to 21, scoring 19 points on second-chance points and outscored the Spartans 42-14 in the paint.
Adrian is scheduled to host Rose-Hulman at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center and play at Bluffton University (Bluffton, Ohio) on Monday, Dec. 7 for a 6 p.m. tip-off.
This article is largely a repost of an Adrian College press release. For more sports, news and entertainment, follow the Midwest Sports Network on Twitter @MWSNsports or like the MWSN page on Facebook.
