The Justice

Media Credit: David Sheppard-Brick Forward Lauren Orlando '09 holds onto the ball.

After staging the greatest comeback of the first round of last season's National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament, the women's basketball team lost to Kean University in the second round. It was the third straight season that the squad had fallen one win short of reaching the Sweet 16.

Coach Carol Simon said the team's ultimate goal remains to go further and win a national championship.

"We've only gotten through two games in the NCAA Tournament, so obviously the biggest thing is that it takes six games to win a national championship, so that's obviously our goal," Simon said. "So six is the magic number, if you get into the NCAA Tournament."

The Judges will have to reach that goal without guard Jaime Capra '08, the team's leading scorer last year with an average of 15.2 points per game. Capra was the University Athletic Association's Co-player of the Year last season as well as the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England Women's Basketball Player of the Year.

"We're going to play a team game this year," guard Jessica Chapin '10 said. "We're going to spread the ball around; everybody's going to get their shots and get their points. It's going to be a total team effort this year."

The team also lost honorable mention All-UAA point guard Kiersten Holgash '08, who averaged 4.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, and reserve guard Courtney Tremblay '08, who played in 23 of the Judges' 27 games.

The cupboard is far from bare, however. The team still returns four of its top five leading scorers from last year, including Chapin, who finished third on the team with 10.2 points per game and was a second-team all-UAA selection. Inside players Lauren Orlando '09 and Cassidy Dadaos '09, who were second and fourth on the team, respectively, with 11.1 and 5.6 points per game, also return.

All but one of last season's reserve players also return to the lineup this season. The returnees include forward Amber Strodthoff '11, who averaged 4.6 points per game last season, guard Carmela Breslin '10, who led the team in field goal percentage among players with at least 50 attempted shots last season; and point guard Lauren Rashford '10, who picked up 23 steals in 18 games last season.

Continued...

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