Rutland County teams get the season rolling
Toolbox
BY Tom Haley STAFF WRITER - Published: November 14, 2009
Ashton Mitchell commanded All-America attention last year as a senior forward for the University of Mary Washington, averaging 10.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game on a torn ACL, helping the Division III Virginia school to the Capital Athletic Conference championship.
She is now a graduate assistant coach at Castleton State College and the hope is that players like Kristie Dunchus and Laura Cary, both 6-foot-1, and 5-foot-10 Megan Johnson, can pick up some post moves from her.
Coach Tim Barrett will need to get everything he can from them and all his players after graduating seven seniors, including 1,000-point scorers Jessica Banks and Mary Nienow.
Castleton and everyone else is chasing Husson in the North Atlantic Conference women's basketball race. The Eagles were a unanimous choice to win the league by the coaches in the preseason poll.
Why not? They return four starters from a team that won the conference with a 13-1 record. Those starters include NAC player of the Year Shelby Bradford and NAC Rookie of the Year Bree Hanscom.
Maine-Farmington finished second and the Beavers return Caitlyn Laflin, last year's leading scorer in the NAC.
Maine Maritime coach Craig Dagan brought in a big freshman class of 10 and his Mariners are picked for third.
The NAC preseason poll and the point totals for each team: 1. Husson (64); 2. Maine-Farmington (54); 3. Maine Maritime (46); Castleton (44); 5. Green Mountain and Johnson (tied with 23); 7. Lyndon (19); 8. Thomas (15).
Castleton opens its season Tuesday by hosting New England College at 5:30 p.m. That will be the Spartans' only home game of the first semester.
Green Mountain tips off its campaign Nov. 21 against UMass-Dartmouth in the UMass-Dartmouth Tip-Off Tournament.
College of St. Joseph, the other Rutland County school, competes in the Sunrise Conference against the likes of Fisher College, SUNY Canton, Paul Smith's, Maine Machias, Maine-Fort Kent, Vermont Tech and Maine-Presque Isle. The Fighting Saints opened their season Thursday night at Albany Pharmacy.
Castleton
"We graduated seven players and about 90 percent of our scoring, but we have a good nucleus back," Barrett said.
Dunchus, Cary and Johnson give the Spartans some height. They also provide some of the local flavor with Dunchus from West Rutland and Johnson from Rutland.
Middlebury's Katie Hoxie, Banks' backcourt mate, returns, but she got a late start as a member of the soccer team that earned an ECAC tournament berth.
Burlington's Christine Jaques will step in as the point guard, trying to fill the gigantic shoes left behind by Banks.
Twinfield graduate Vanessa Powers has transferred from Rhode Island College. She is a 5-foot-10 wing player.
"She has been playing well," Barrett said.
Tarryn Bolognani, a freshman guard from Twin Valley, is a good shooter and figures to see some time. She was a 1,000-point scorer at the Wilmington school.
Filling out the roster are freshmen Chelsea Crehan, Katelyn Bashaw, Lauren Finlan, Caitlin Roberts and Jassmine Matos.
"We'll be different this year. We have experience up front and we need to take advantage of our size," Barrett said.
The first-semester slate is brutal, with every game on the road except the opener against NEC. It includes Baruch, which made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, along with strong teams like Middlebury, Colby-Sawyer and Plymouth State.
"It should prepare for us for our conference play in January," Barrett said.
Green Mountain
Jen Heath put her Eagles through their paces in a scrimmage against an alumni team and liked what she saw.
"I liked how we worked together, especially with five new players," Heath said.
Returning are 6-foot-1 Emma Brinley Buckley, Christin Louras, Olsea Cojohari, Chanleigh Casey and West Rutland's Katie Jablonski.
Buckley is a force inside. Her 11.3 rebounds per game ranked 24th nationally and she scored 12.7 points per game.
Rutland's Louras is the team's top defensive player.
Jablonski, Cojohari and Casey bring a great work ethic to the team.
They will blend with newcomers Kris Belessis, Jacque Casterm, Jessica Measheaw, Chelsea Paul and Lindsey Tassie, all freshmen. Tassie hails from Williamstown, Heath's hometown.
"I'm excited about the start of another season," Heath said. "We have a good mix of veterans and newcomers. The older girls are helping the freshmen and the freshmen are soaking up all the new information.
"The work ethic and enthusiasm so far has been impressive."
College of St. Joseph
CSJ coach Jason Cassarino might have the youngest team in the country on his hands: eight players and every one of them a freshman.
"I think we'll be better than last year. Each day it gets better," Cassarino said while boarding the bus for Thursday night's opener at Albany Pharmacy.
"Scoring could be a problem."
That is because he graduated Michelle Thompson, who could fill up the basket with 3-pointers.
Five of the freshmen are in-state products: Springfield's Breanna Gunn, BFA-Fairfax's Sarah LeClair, Rutland's Brittney Garrow, Fair Haven's Amanda Howard and Poultney's Racheal Paquette.
The others are Samantha Foster, Robin Labrie and Holly Krock.
The Saints' home opener will be Nov. 18 against Lyndon State. The Sunrise opener is not until Jan. 10 when the Maine-Fort Kent Bengals pay a visit to St. Joseph Athletic Center.
tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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