STORMIN' PETREL HOOP NEWS: November 2009

PRACTICE HAS FINALLY BEGUN...

And the 09/10 version of Stormy Petrel Basketball is taking shape and it will definitely be a different shape. As you probably know we graduated our starting six from last season, which is the bad news, but we have 12 new faces plus four returners and Senior Taymah Jones returns after two years of knee rehab. So where does that leave us? We are going to depend a lot on new faces for our success this season and I think we have the players to make it happen.

The four returning players are also young, with Chelsea MacDonald being the only Junior. Kelley Reeves, Jamie Maxie and Rena Crossland are all Sophomores.

Our new faces include four transfers from D-II schools: 5’9” power forward Junior Kristin Zipkin; 5’6” Sophomore point Morgan Loughrey; 5’7” Sophomore 'two' guard Katie Weeks; and 6’1” freshmen post Kaci Palmore.

The talented Freshmen class is a whopping 7: 5’8” play-maker and shooting guard Sarah Jones (Gilmer Co., Ga.); 6’2” post Sarah Giles (Kennesaw Mountain, Ga.); 5’9” power forward Mareva Bone ( Wheeler, Marietta, Ga.); 5’4” point guard Riley Cerone (Blessed Trinity, Roswell, Ga.); 5’6” shooting guard Katie Lynn (Buford, Buford, Ga.); 5’6” point guard Morghan Brandon (Von Steuben, Chicago, Il.); and 5’5” shooting guard Megan Miles ( White Station, Cordova, Tn.).

So this year we have point guards and posts to go along with our great supply of shooters. With all the new faces it is going to be very interesting to see how fast we can come together as a team.

SEASON OPENER – A SPECIAL NIGHT...

Opening night will be:

November 17, 7 p.m. at home against Emory

Prior to the tip we are going to hang our Sweet Sixteen Banner, honor last year’s graduating class and retire the jerseys of our two All Americans Katie Kulavic and Anna Findley from that class. And then you will be treated to some fine bball as we play Emory who upset us last season.

Come early to help us honor this great group of graduates who gave so much to Oglethorpe and really thrust the Petrels into national prominence.

WHAT ARE THEY DOING NOW?

Katie Kulavic: New asst. coach at Berry College, Rome, Ga. under new head coach Stephanie Dunn who coached Katie at St. Pius X H.S.

Anna Findley: Executive assistant at the Muntzing-Sattele Company in Atlanta.

Biz Richmann: Asst. Coach at OU and also attending Graduate School at Georgia State University.

Jamie Osmanson: Events manager at Windermere Country Club, Duluth, Ga.

Hannah Brooks: Veterinary assistant while waiting to begin Vet School.

Tina Grace: Back in Pensacola working with a physiologist (can you imagine that!)

(and apparently they're poised to fight villains too?)

WHAT ELSE IS NEW THIS SEASON?

As I mentioned above Biz Richmann (’09) joins our coaching staff along with returning asst. coach Fallon Rehmert. Together they provide an excellent team to help our athletes on and off the court. Both had stellar careers in college, both in the classroom (each had 3.75 GPA’s) and on the court. Just can’t tell you how excited I am to work with these assistants!

And we welcome them to the blog-o-sphere as they will both be contributing tidbits to the Stormin' Petrel Hoop News. Stay tuned...

GAME BROADCASTS

Our home games will again be webcast on the Petrel Sports Network. Go to our webpage for directions on how to listen to our home games and the Coach’s Show (available via iTunes podcast - search "oglethorpe university") on your computer.

SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS

As usual, the SCAC will be difficult. DePauw and Centre have been getting most of the press in the East, and Trinity in the West. BSC brought in a slew of new players and I hear Matt Dean at Rhodes has loaded up.

Our out-of-conference schedule will be extremely challenging with National power Hope coming to our Holiday Tournament (stay tuned for some awesome tourney t-shirts again)! We also travel to Thomas More for their Thanksgiving Tournament... and you know they want revenge after we beat them twice. We also play Manchester, from Indiana in the tournament. Emory is always difficult for us, as well as Piedmont. We have added Agnes Scott and East Texas Baptist from the very competitive American Southwest Conference. Last year’s NCAA opponent, Maryville, comes to town, as does LaGrange College.

TIDBITS

’05 Grads Julie Colantoni and Katie Michalezyk now have "MD" after their names. Congrats!

We will have one additional ball girl this season: Madelyn Bickel, formally a west-coaster, now living in Hotlanta.

My daughter, Gerri DiCarlo, will be helping us keep up with the Stormin’ Petrel Blog again, in between working her graphic + web design and photography business, Art Elastic, and being a Stormy Petrel super fan (she's the one who stands up most of the game and loses her voice).