The Snapper

The Millersville women’s basketball team hits the court, once again, for yet another run at the PSAC East division title.

For 17 consecutive seasons they have claimed the top spot in the east, and Coach Mary Fleig believes that the good nucleus of experienced players will be the key to the team’s success this season.

Fleig is a five-time PSAC East coach of the year, and through her 18 seasons as coach at Millersville, she has amassed over 300 wins.
She also guided the University to 17 winning seasons and six NCAA Division II tournament berths.

“I am excited about the new season.  I feel we have a strong base of experienced players that helped us last year and will take us where we need to go this year,” Fleig said.  “Health does become an issue throughout the season, so we need to bring along the youth and give those new kids a chance to step up and give us some balance off the bench,”

The Marauders will have their work cut out for themselves as they attempt to hold on to their division title, due to Shippensburg’s shift from the PSAC West over to the PSAC East to begin the new campaign.

Despite being defending champs, Millersville sat at the number-two spot in the preseason coaches’ poll behind newcomer Shippensburg.

“Shippensburg will make it tougher for us, but I feel good about this season.  I am not one to expect things.  I really don’t like the word expectations.  It is hard to expect things.  That’s where trouble starts,” Fleig said.  “Instead, we are goal-oriented and work as hard as we can to get there, not just expect things to happen.”

Two returning guards bring their experience to the backcourt, graduate student Jenna Philo and junior Aiesha Bellamy.

The two guards look to utilize their court vision, speed and quickness to create turnovers and push the tempo on the court.
Junior Jenna Craig also returns as the leading rebounder from last year’s team, and junior Raquel Green brings her experience to this year’s side as a five game starter last season.

The top returnee and PSAC East first teamer, senior Gladine St. Julien comes back this season after averaging 12.6 points per game, which led the team.

“We have a lot of experience on our team.  We know our strengths and believe that we can reach our goals for this season.  Our goals feed off our expectations, and we know how important it is to reach our goal of winning the PSAC East,” Philo said.

The Lady Marauders style of play pushes the court and traps all over the floor defensively.

They look to feed it inside to St. Julien, who also has the wherewithal to distribute the rock around her double-team matchups, creating outside shots.

The team possesses a few good outside shooters, including Philo who led the team in three point field goals made last season.

Millersville’s season tips off on Nov. 15, when they host Columbia Union College, at 6 p.m.  Their conference schedule begins on Jan. 14 at West Chester.