2019-20 #HLWBB League Preview
Joey Yashinsky
By Joey Yashinsky, Horizon League Contributor. Follow on Twitter @OneSeatOver
It’s not a misprint. The Wright State Raiders finished alone in first place in 2018-19. The Green Bay Phoenix were a game behind. This is obviously notable because Kevin Borseth’s group in Green Bay had captured at least a piece of the last 20 regular season championships.
Anytime the longtime champ is dethroned, it creates a whole new set of storylines going forward.
Will Katrina Merriweather and the Raiders be able to keep their place atop the Horizon League? Do the Phoenix now enter 2019-20 with a renewed hunger? What about the next crop of ultra-talented squads, any one of whom could surprise and make a run at the League crown?
Let’s delve a little deeper into this year’s much-anticipated Horizon League women’s basketball season.
• Do you enjoy going to the dentist? A nice root canal or wisdom tooth procedure? That’s the type of fun you’re in for when trying to make a basket in the half-court against Green Bay. In League play last year, the Phoenix allowed under 51 points per game. Borseth’s team ranked fourth in the country defensively, and that’s out of 349 teams. Perennial all-defensive performer Jen Wellnitz is gone, which will hurt, but the stinginess of this club is unlikely to change much at all.
• Michal Miller and Angel Baker will form one of the most dangerous backcourts in the country this season for Wright State. With Mackenzie Taylor and Emily Vogelpohl both graduated, the onus falls on Miller and Baker to step up their production to keep the Raiders atop the standings. Miller was honored with a place on the Preseason All-Horizon League First Team and Baker earned a spot on the second team. Baker might be the quickest guard in the Midwest.
• The IUPUI Jaguars joined the Horizon League two seasons ago. All they’ve done since is win, win and win some more. Austin Parkinson and company wasted no time in getting acclimated to the League, finishing that two-year stretch with a sizzling 26-10 record. And unfortunately for the rest of the Horizon League, a certain someone is back...
• Macee Williams, the Preseason Player of the Year and a dominant force on the interior. She played like a four-year senior as a freshman, so you can imagine how good she will be now as an upperclassman. IUPUI will be in the mix for the Horizon League’s top spot all winter long.
• The Youngstown State Penguins have their own top-flight post presence in Mary Dunn. The 6-foot-3 senior has improved each year under John Barnes and with an ever-improving outside shot, this could be Dunn’s finest season yet. Also keep an eye out for 6-foot-4 Western Michigan transfer Emma VanZanten, a major boost to a Penguins’ frontcourt that now must learn to live without program legend Sarah Cash.
• As is custom, the Milwaukee Panthers will be right in the Horizon League fight throughout the season. The inside-out combination of Megan Walstad (Preseason All-Horizon League First team) and Jamie Reit brings to mind Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury. Walstad shoots a high percentage and affects countless shots on defense. Reit is one of the League’s top returning 3-point shooters and playmakers.
• Is this to be the year that Camryn Whitaker’s Northern Kentucky Norse burst through the door and battle it out with the Horizon League heavyweights for the top spot? It very well could be. This is a program that has had plenty of success with a pair of Div. II championships in 2000 and 2008. To make such a run requires leadership, a trait redshirt-senior Molly Glick delivers in spades. The Preseason All-League Second Team guard will be a rock for Whitaker’s maturing squad, for which she is the only senior. Get to the gym when the Norse come to town this season to see Glick, one of the toughest competitors in the Horizon League, one final time.
• Don’t read too much into Cleveland State’s 7th-place finish in the preseason poll: this is a team on the rise with a trio of terrific players. Senior Mariah Miller, junior Mariah White and sophomore Savanna Crockett were three of the top 13 scorers during Horizon League play a season ago. In fact, Miller led the whole conference with 15.3 PPG, while White finished second in steals to Wellnitz and third in assists.
• Jeff Tungate has had some special players come through Rochester during his time at Oakland. Hannah Little, Taylor Jones...is Kahlaijah Dean next? As a freshman, the explosive guard poured in 42 triples during conference play, a total bested only by Alison Smolinski of Youngstown State. It would come as no surprise to see Dean’s name on one of the all-league groups come March.
• Bernard Scott will have eight new players this year at Detroit Mercy, but there is still a quality mix of talent returning to Calihan Hall. Zoey Oatis is a senior that will take the ball away if you so much as look away for a split second; she averaged nearly two thefts a game, good for fourth in the Horizon League. Sophomore Jess Bicknell is a sophomore guard with a bright future. The all-court player led the Titans in scoring during league play and finished second on the team in assists. Scott could utilize her as a super-sub off the bench.
• One name that you could see a lot of this Horizon League season is that of Jada Nneji, a 6-foot-1 forward and one of the most intimidating interior defenders in the country. She swatted away 60 shots during League play, not only the best total, but by a wide margin (2nd - 50 blocks, 3rd - 27). She’ll make a strong case for Defensive Player of the Year in 2019-20 as the Flames make a push toward the upper half of the Horizon League.
• Karly Murphy is back for Green Bay. Caitlyn Hibner, too. Both had outstanding seasons in 2017-18 before losing last year to injury. Adding that dynamic duo to a Phoenix team that still managed to come a whisker away from regular season and tournament titles is a scary proposition for the rest of the Horizon League. The backcourt is fully stocked with Preseason All-Horizon League Preseason First Team selection Frankie Wurtz and Meghan Pingel, a redshirt junior that starred at last year’s Motor City Madness. Redshirt senior twins Mackenzie and Madison Wolf will again be a force in the low post.
• Tyler Frierson is a star on the rise for Wright State. Her numbers saw a healthy bump from her freshman to sophomore campaigns and a similar uptick as a junior would help keep Wright State at number one on the charts. Frierson, a 6-foot-4 center, finished fifth in blocks during league play and was also a top-10 rebounder, no small feat considering she had to battle for those boards with teammate Symone Simmons. And she got all that done in just about 18 minutes per game. As her court time increases, her production could go through the roof.
• Austin Parkinson has been the head coach at IUPUI for nine years. In that time, he considers senior guard Holly Hoopingarner the best leader he’s ever had at the program. That’s high praise. Macee Williams is a near-lock for a place on the all-league teams at the end of the year, but Hoopingarner could be right there, too. Especially if it was up to her coach.
• Sydney Roule is a fantastic long-range shooter for the Jaguars. Leave her open if you dare, but you could pay a hefty price. Katelyn O’Reilly does all of the little things on the court to help IUPUI continue sporting those fashionable 13-5 conference marks.
• McKenah Peters is listed as a 5-foot-9 guard, but her physical style and overall competitiveness could allow John Barnes to give her minutes at the power forward position. While the defensive assignment could be challenging, it’ll be just as stressful for opposing post players to chase Peters around the perimeter. Chelsea Olson returns as the leading assist-getter in the Horizon League and one of the top 3-point threats. Keep an eye on Providence transfer Ny’Dajah Jackson, a redshirt junior guard who was often one of Youngstown State’s best players during practice last season.
• Plenty of athletes use training camp and preseason to round into playing shape. McKaela Schmelzer needs no such warmup. After all, she doesn’t really have an actual off-season. The two-sport star at Milwaukee is not only a hard-nosed, pass-first point guard on the hardwood, but also an ace midfielder for the Panthers soccer team. That club just wrapped up a near-perfect run through the Horizon League and will host next week’s League tournament. Milwaukee fans are hoping that feat can be replicated this winter from Schmelzer and the basketball team.
• Ally Niece had an outstanding freshman season for Camryn Whitaker at Northern Kentucky. She was a deadeye shooter from 3-point land. Automatic at the foul line. Finished top-five in the league in assists. For a lot of players, that first season back from an ACL tear can be bumpy and difficult. Niece bucked that trend and flourished on the court. She’ll be a major part of the Norse attack, as will newcomer Carissa Garcia. The freshman guard out of Fort Wayne was a major get for Whitaker and will be one of the Horizon League’s most exciting freshman in 2019-20.
• Kate Peterson-Abiad led the Cleveland State women’s program for 15 years and guided the Vikings to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. So when Chris Kielsmeier took over last year, it was clearly not an easy act to follow. But in no short order, he had the Vikings program humming again with a clear and simple message: get better every day. If you don’t enter a game with Cleveland State ready to put forth full effort, they could run you out of the gym. They were picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, but that’s really more a statement on the depth and quality of women’s hoops in the Horizon League than anything else.
• It’s a luxury on any team to have a dominant offensive force like Elena Delle Donne or Liz Cambage. But those types of players are few and far between. Often, it’s about the sum of the parts, combining a few high-quality players to form a “three-headed monster” that strikes fear into opponents. The Oakland Golden Grizzlies have exactly that with juniors Chloe Guingrich and Autumn Kissman, along with sophomore Kayla Luchenbach; together, they look to bring some paint thunder and give Tungate’s team a real presence on the inside. Tungate will have to navigate the season without a single senior on his roster, but with the aforementioned post strength and excellent guard play, OU will be a tough out on their home blacktop and anywhere else they take the floor this year.
• When you reach down from a standing position to grab a loose ball, Detroit Mercy’s Aly Reiff will dive with reckless abandon to get there first. The transfer from Xavier should give a major jolt to Bernard Scott’s rotation. Reiff plays with all-out effort, but blends that tenacity with a diverse set of offensive skills. She’s as adept ripping the nets from the perimeter as she is driving the ball to the cup. Oh, and two of her uncles played college football, so maybe just forget about ever outhustling her to the floor. She’s coming up with the ball and that’s final.
• Tasha Pointer begins year two at UIC with a whole lot of freshmen, so while there could be some growing pains early on, they could be a handful come League tournament time. Kimeira Burks is a tremendous shooter from long distance. Tiana Jackson comes to UIC after a decorated prep career in which she broke the school’s all-time assists record and was a big part of an undefeated team as a senior. Give the Flames a little bit of time to mature and they could be knocking on the door of Horizon League contention very soon.
There will be no nights off. No easy victories. The champion of the 2019-20 Horizon League women’s basketball season will have earned that distinction by besting one of the deepest and most talented conferences in the country.
It promises to be a wildly entertaining, unpredictable five months of basketball.
And it can’t get started soon enough.