Women's Basketball Season Preview and SCAC Media Day Interview
IRVING, Texas – It is about a week away from opening tip-off for the University of Dallas women's basketball team. Head Coach Greta Grothe enters her second year at the helm and boasts a roster that heavily experienced and has some new faces.
All but one player returns from last season and includes eight seniors. This veteran group contains Sammi Tso (Las Vegas, Nev.), Holly Tonry (Seattle, Wash.), Lindsey Gendron (Houston, Texas), and Seana Stoia (Tulsa, Okla.), Nerissa Periola (Chula Vista, Calif.), Caitlyn Worry (Lumberton, Texas), Ashlyn Garcia (San Antonio, Texas), and Bethany Pugh (Sacramento, Calif.) Four of those players have seen were in the starting lineup over 10 times the previous campaign. Forming that quartet includes: Tso, Tonry, Gendron, and Stoia. This bunch are the only players on the current roster with at least two letters, including Stoia and Tso with all three.
Two other players that were part of a team in 2015-16 that witnessed six players garner at least 13 starts were Michelle DeCoud and Helen Onyenso (Oak Park, Ill.). Shelby Waldron (Banning, Calif.) rounds out the trio of juniors, and Jackie Landry (Anaheim, Calif.) is the lone sophomore to complete an 18-person roster with 12 returners.
"The preseason is going really well with eight upper classmen taking the reins and helping the newcomers integrate well," Coach Grothe explained to scacsports.com on how preseason has been going. "We pretty much have the whole starting lineup back. So that is exciting…and we are just trying to stay healthy for the season."
The Crusaders are looking to bounce back from an 8-17 season that included a 3-11 mark against Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) opponents.
Stoia led Dallas with 294 points (11.8 points-per-game) and 154 rebounds last season. DeCoud, who spent time in Rome as part of the school program, poured 222 points in 17 games to match Gendron for second on the team. The 2014-15 SCAC Newcomer of the Year averaged 13.1 ppg, 141 rebounds (2nd in SCAC with 8.3 rebounds/game), and 19 blocks. Tonry dished a team-high 95 assists to lead the league. Onyenso ranked second on the team in total boards (152) but grabbed a team-leading 71 off the offensive end. Worry and Gendron each led in 3-point percentage with 34.4-percentages.
Stoia, DeCoud, and Tonry earned all-conference honors and the first two of that trio snatched United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) All-Americans.
There are six newcomers that are mixing in well with the team. Among that unit includes: Panda Green (Farmersville, Texas), Grace DiMarco (College Station, Texas), Raven Rogers (Fort Worth, Texas), Celsi Caraway (Arlington, Texas), Jazsmyn Thornton (Memphis, Tenn.), and Sarah Perrin (Gilbert, Ariz.).
Tso joined the 14th head coach of the women's basketball program for the conference media days. After missing the second half of the season last year due to injury, a previous all-conference and conference winter all-sportsmanship team in 2014-15, Tso is eager to get back on the court with her teammates.
"I think that we have improved significantly from last year…we are working really well together, Tso stated. "We only lost one person last year, so our chemistry is really good and I am excited to see what we can do this season."
Tso continued on both personal and team goals, "Score when I need to score, get some assists when I need to do that, and just play my role to help my team as a whole. Individually if we play our roles specifically, then as a team we will see a positive outcome."
Dallas opens at Hendrix College on November 15. Tip-off is at 5 p.m.