Women’s Basketball looking to shock the Preseason Polls

Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024

(1/2024) On December 5th, the Mount St. Mary’s women’s basketball team defeated local rival, Bucknell University, by a score of 55-46. In an impressive show of defensive play and clutch timing in situations when the games were close, Head Coach Antoine White and his players set the tone for what the season could look like in Emmitsburg. With a combination of upper-class leadership and a good recruiting class with the inclusion of seasoned graduate student players, White and the rest of his staff look to shock the conference as they were selected to finish 8th in the standings.

The first key to the success of the team this season is their veteran players—two of the captains of this year’s team in senior, Isabella Hunt and Jessica Tomasetti. Both players can be widely regarded as some of the best players on the team, as they have both started in every single game for the team this season. Of the two, Tomasetti is the points getter, as she is averaging 10.7 points per game this far into the season as well as field goal percentage of .333. Tomasetti is also a lock from the line, as she has made 23-29 free throws from fouls so far this season.

With the excellent guard play of Tomasetti, Hunt is the best example of a textbook power forward. In the game against Bucknell alone, she brought down twelve total rebounds. This added to her fifteen rebounds against Navy on November 15th and ten against Siena on December 18th. While only averaging 7.0 points per game, Hunt is also automatic from the line as she is 21-27 from the free throw line. She is also carrying a stat line of .421 from the field as her play as a guard requires her to be clutch in the paint.

But by far the best all-round offensive player on Coach White’s team is junior, Jo Raflo. While averaging 12.2 points per game, Raflo carries an offensive slash line of .320/.369/.783 in the categories of field goal percentage, 3-pointer percentage, and free-throw percentage. These impressive percentages are mirrored by impressive performances by Raflo, specifically the game on November 18th against Cornell, where she went 9-13 from the field as well as a nearly perfect performance from beyond the arc, as she made 8-10 three pointers. It is no wonder that along with Tomasetti and Hunt, Raflo has started every game for the Mountaineers.

Along with already existing veteran players, Coach White and his staff are counting on their first ever MAAC draft class to help the team succeed. This includes first-year students, Tessa Engelman of Calgary, Canada and Gabrielle Kennerly of Ellicott City, Maryland. With Engelman seeing only 146 minutes on the court, this season in more of a sixth man role of the bench and Kennerly not seeing the court at all, it is more likely than not that both of these players are long term projects for the coaching staff and will fill out roster spots when upper-class students move on from the team.

White along with the rest of the team staff have also utilized the transfer portal in bringing in players from other schools this season, specifically in the case of graduate students Maddie Novak, formerly of Stetson University, KC Clark, formerly of Cornell University, Aniya Walker from Duquesne University, and the former Radford University center, Jackie Christ. With both Novak and Christ seeing more then 260 minutes on the court, mainly in bench level roles, they are the most utilized of the team’s graduate student corps. KC Clark, on the other hand, may be a sleeper pick off the bench when the team is in need points, as she carries a field goal percentage of .414 and a 3-pointer percentage of .300.

Apart from the rest of the team, there is a surprising number of red-shirted players on the team. Three players from past teams were given options to retake a grade level to keep their eligibility. Redshirt Freshman Gianna Hoddinott was part of Coach White’s plans last year, but her progress was stunted by a seasoning ending injury against Navy on November 19th, 2022. Another Redshirt qualifying student who has provided good rotation in game is sophomore, Jaedyn Jamison, who carries a field goal percentage of .333 on the season. But the standout amongst the Redshirt qualifying players is junior, Jada Lee. The Pittsburgh native has started in seven of nine games for the team this year and has cemented her starting role in the team while averaging 7.3 points per game with a field goal percentage of .377 and a free-throw percentage of .842. This has made her an integral part of the team in the starting lineup that will most likely continue into the team next year.

As their record currently stands, the Mount are 3-7 overall and 0-1 in conference play, with a 61-55 loss to Siena giving the fans a preview of what conference play could be like this year. But before the conference starts back up again with an away game at Canisius on January 4th, the team will play two out of conference games: one on December 22nd against No. 25 Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, and another in Emmitsburg in an exhibition game against Bryn Athyn on December 30th. These are the final out of conference games of the season before conference play resumes in January until the MAAC Conference Tournament, which begins on March 12th.

Even though the team was picked so low in pre-season polling, they clearly have the potential to make a wave in the conference. With a starting line-up of Hunt, Tomasetti, Raflo, Lee including any number of other redshirt qualifiers or graduate students, the Mountaineers surely have depth within their team. They can use this to their advantage as the take on teams who may not have as deep a roster in games that come fast once conference play starts again and the ever-present objective of the National Tournament becomes a reality to the competing teams in the conference.