Tuesday, November 06, 2007

12 Days of A-Sun Basketball wraps up in DeLand, Fla., for a look at the Steton Hatters. The Hatters return three starters and eight letterwinners from the 2006-07 squad.

Stetson has compiled one of the more attractive schedules in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Hatters will play 17 home games including nine of 13 non-conference games at the Edmunds Center. A pair of four-game homestands surround a four-game road swing including a matchup with the University of Florida.

Head Coach Dee Romine enters the 2007-08 season with 297 coaching wins (175 at Stetson, 56 at Skidmore College and 66 at College of St Mary. With three wins, she will become the seventh current coach in the Atlantic Sun with 300 wins. She has collected 175 of those wins during her 14 years at Stetson, highlighted by a 22-7 campaign in 2000-01 and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004-05.

Coach Dee Romine on the Hatters

Team Page

Roster

Schedule

2006-07 Statistics

SEASON PREVIEW - (Courtesy Stetson Media Relations)

The Stetson women’s basketball team will feature an intriguing mix of the new and the familiar in the 2007-08 campaign. Head Coach Dee Romine enters her 15th season in DeLand along with longtime Associate Head Coach Debbie Gadd while the other half of the staff is made up of newcomers Rodney Minggia and Courtney Robinson. On the court the Hatters will feature seven returnees, four of which started at least half the team’s games a year ago while rounding out the roster with three freshmen.

BACKCOURT

Junior guard Sharnesha Smith (Kingsland, Ga.) is expected to be the engine that runs the Hatter offense and defense. Smith was Stetson’s leader last year in scoring (9.9 ppg), assists (2.8 apg, 1.10 assist to turnover ratio) and steals (26). “The offense will need to go through Sharnesha,” Coach Romine says. “She’s our best player in terms of creating her own shot and will be our floor leader.”

Senior Kellie Olson (Tucson, Ariz.) will serve as the team captain this season following a junior year in which she made 23 starts, averaging 5.4 points per game. Olson proved to be Stetson’s top three-point threat, connecting from downtown 35 times, and immediately put herself in the school record books, tying for ninth all-time in single-season three-point percentage (.333). “Kellie is our zone buster,” reports Coach Romine. “She does a lot of the little intangible things that don’t always show up in the boxscore but are essential to winning basketball games.”

Fellow senior Jamie Nesbit (Peoria, Ariz.) will also make her presence felt in the Hatter backcourt. Nesbit reached double figures in each of her first three games at Stetson last season after transferring from Mesa (Ariz.) Community College, where she and Olson both played. The Atlantic Sun Player of the Week for December 18, Nesbit earned that honor by making a school-record eight three-pointers en route to 28 points against Florida A&M on December 16. “We know she’s capable of scoring in double figures and we’re looking for her to do that consistently this season,” says Romine.

Freshman Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla./First Academy) will be given the opportunity to win the starting point guard role following a strong high school career that concluded with back-to-back Florida Class 2A state championships. Brown is described by Coach Romine as a very talented player that can score off the bounce as well as having a strong shot. “Tierra’s role will give us the versatility we need to deploy our scoring wings,” Romine notes.

Stetson’s other freshman guard, Brittany Carannante (Clearwater, Fla./Clearwater HS), should have a big impact for the Hatters this season. Carannante led Clearwater High to the Florida Class 5A title game this past March and scored a team-high 18 points in the championship game. A second-team All-State pick by the Florida Sportswriters Association, a pair of Carannante’s highlights appeared on ESPN SportsCenter’s “Top 10 Plays” segment depicting her making both a full-court shot and a shot from just beyond halfcourt two days apart. “Brittany’s length and athleticism should make her a tough matchup for opposing teams on the perimeter,” Romine predicts. “She can shoot it from deep as well as put the ball on the floor and create off the dribble.”

FRONTCOURT

Junior Ayesha Barkley (East Orange, N.J.) and senior Vlendy Roldan (Kissimmee, Fla./Osceola HS) are Stetson’s top two returnees on the blocks. They each played in all 30 games last season with Barkley starting 15 times and Roldan 13. Barkley is tied for second among returnees in scoring (5.8 ppg a year ago) and is the top returning Hatter in rebounds (3.8 rpg) and blocked shots (19), tied for the team high). Roldan averaged 4.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in her first season with the squad after transferring from Santa Fe (Fla.) Community College. “Ayesha is very capable of being an inside and outside threat for us and we’re going to need her to defend and rebound consistently,” Romine says. “Vlendy gives us another strong low post presence that we need this season.”

Redshirt junior Shayna Swinson (Atlanta, Ga.) and sophomore Ashli Jackson (Opelika, Ala.) also return to provide the Hatters with depth up front. Swinson appeared in all 30 games, 29 of them in a reserve role, and averaged 1.4 points and 2.4 rebounds. Her best statistical performance came Dec. 21 against South Alabama when she scored a season-high six points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds. Jackson made one start in 17 games, averaging 1.1 points and 0.9 rebounds in approximately six minutes per contest. Coach Romine expects Swinson to contribute solid minutes and rebounding for the Hatters while noting that Jackson is the physically strongest member of the team with the potential to play up front and out on the perimeter.

The final member of the frontcourt quintet, freshman Jessica Conner (Cocoa, Fla./Cocoa HS), was a two-time All-Space Coast honoree at Rockledge (Fla.) HS before transferring for her senior season to Cocoa HS. She averaged 16.7 points and 15 rebounds in her junior year at RHS. Coach Romine describes Conner as a an extremely athletic post player who will provide rebounding help and general depth. “As her basketball skills catch up with her athletic ability, Jessica will become a force to handle for opponents,” Romine adds.

SCHEDULE

The 2007-08 schedule features nine out-of-conference games on the Glenn Wilkes Court at the Edmunds Center a year after Stetson played just four non-conference matchups at home. The team makes its debut Saturday, November 3 in a home exhibition game against Flagler College and will open the regular season with four consecutive home games in a nine-day span, facing North Carolina A&T (Nov. 9), Georgia Southern (Nov. 11) local rival Bethune-Cookman (Nov. 14) and Coastal Carolina (Nov. 17). Stetson’s four non-conference road games follow in a row and include trips to 2007 WNIT participant South Florida as well as Florida. This is the fourth consecutive year in which the Hatters will match up with the Gators in Gainesville. The latter half of December features another four-game homestand with contests against Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 17), Furman (Dec. 20), Presbyterian (Dec. 22) and local rivals UCF in the opener of a New Year’s Eve afternoon doubleheader prior to the men’s game against Charleston Southern.

The Atlantic Sun conference has been formatted into divisions for the 2007-08 campaign. Stetson is in the South division along with Division I newcomer Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, North Florida, Mercer and Kennesaw State and will play each of those teams at home and on the road. The Hatters will face three North division foes at home (defending conference champions Belmont, WNIT participant East Tennessee State and first-year Division I member South Carolina-Upstate) and the other three (Campbell, Gardner-Webb and Lipscomb) on the road. The Hatters were picked to finish 11th out of 12 teams in the conference preseason poll by both the coaches and the media.

Stetson’s first conference game will be Saturday, January 5 at North Florida with the home league opener coming two weeks later against Mercer, following three road contests and the final non-league home game against Savannah State (Jan. 17). The 2007 A-Sun champion Belmont Bruins appear at the Edmunds Center February 4 while the regular season concludes with a three-game homestand. Senior Night will be March 1 when the Hatters face Jacksonville. The Atlantic Sun Conference tournament shifts venues this season and will be played March 5-8 at Allen Arena in Nashville, Tenn. on the campus of Lipscomb University.

12 Days of A-Sun Basketball Schedule
Oct. 22 - Belmont
Oct. 23 - Campbell
Oct. 24 - ETSU
Oct. 25 - Florida Gulf Coast
Oct. 26 - Gardner-Webb
Oct. 29 - Jacksonville
Oct. 30 - Kennesaw State
Oct. 31 - Lipscomb
Nov. 1 - Mercer
Nov. 2 - UNF
Nov. 5 - USC Upstate
Nov. 6 - Stetson