Women’s Notebook
By Stephen Zerdelian
The history of women’s basketball at Holy Family University, for those who don’t know it, is impressive. After years as an NAIA power, the program moved to the NCAA Division II level and, once eligible for the NCAA Division II tournament, got there a dozen times in thirteen seasons (2004-2016). But the program hasn’t been to the big dance since 2016, which is a streak that alumnae and fourth year head coach Bernadette Laukaitis aims to end.
Her first season (2019-’20) yielded an 18-11 mark and a trip to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference title game, where they dropped a 63-59 nail-biter to Jefferson. The COVID-19 season which followed was a blank, and the Tigers managed a 14-13 record last season while the roster was refreshed. Now Holy Family sports a 13-6 (7-1 in the CACC) record and is firmly in the discussion for CACC honors and a possible NCAA bid. How did they get to this point?
“We are fortunate to have veteran players who lead,” offered the coach. “Anjelia Hayes came back from an ACL (knee) injury and has been an excellent leader, and Moe Moore has been terrific as a leader, too. Those two are at the heart of the team and our growth.”
Hayes, a 5-7 graduate student who has played in every game, and Moore, a 5-7 senior (7 ppg) who has been a starter most of her Tiger career, bring stability to the team and have become role models for the younger players on the roster.
“Our younger players missed a year thanks to the COVID season and are still gaining experience. It’s as if our juniors are really sophomores, which makes our team generally pretty young,” admitted Laukaitis.
The youngsters have acquitted themselves very well this season, though, which comes off the back of a summer which saw a renewed commitment from the team.
“The leadership our upper-class players showed was remarkable,” said Laukaitis. “Their desire to make changes in the off-season and come back stronger and better was clear. The younger players were fully on board with that, and they’ve all made the effort to create the team they want to be. They were challenged to decide who and what they wanted to be and create an identity, and they’ve done it.”
Holy Family has a glut of talented young players who are growing and gaining experience every day. Freshmen Skyler Searfoss (5-8; 12.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and Taylor Hinkle (5-10; 8.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg) are among the fresh faces who have excited HFU fans and alumnae.
“I get texts, email and DM’s all the time from former players and they are excited to come and see the new players on the team,” added Laukaitis. “(Skyler and Taylor) have been winners their whole lives and bring an intensity to the floor that helps everyone. They are still learning the game at this level but have shown they have a lot to offer.”
Both Searfoss and Hinkle are excellent building blocks for the future, but numerous other young returners have been vital for the Tigers. Juniors Carolyn Prevost (6-1; 10.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and Lindsay Tretter (5-8; 8.7 ppg; 28 three-pointers) join Searfoss, Moore and sophomore Ava Morrow (5-10; 7.2 ppg) in the usual starting quintet for HFU with Hinkle, sophomore Jessica Riepe (5-9), junior Jen Kokolus (5-11) and Hayes leading the bench crew. It’s a relatively young group but slowly gaining an identity.
“Our group wanted to be better this year and they have a great mindset. We want to pride ourselves on defense and use that to fuel the attack, and they’ve bought into it as a unit,” lauded the coach. “We take each game as it comes along and never look too far ahead. Our veterans take the responsibility to lead and we all stress taking care of the small details, so that we can succeed. It’s satisfying to watch the team develop and take ownership of the game and their own actions.”
The Tigers have shown the ability to defend well (allowing opponents just 37.4% shooting and 61.2 points per game) while out-rebounding teams (almost +5 per game) and winning close games (5-2 in games decided by single digits). Those traits have provided the framework for success not just in the future, but in the present.
An up-and-down start to the campaign saw Holy Family at 3-4 just after Thanksgiving but they won ten of their next eleven games, with a win over Bentley (77-70 on December 17) the most eye-catching. Seven of the victories have been in conference play and set up a meeting on Tuesday with cross-town rival Jefferson, who also came into the game 7-0 in CACC action.
The Tigers fought hard but came up on the short end of a 65-50 score, illustrating that their development still has some way to go. Jefferson, a battle-hardened team, placed all five starters in double digits and pulled away in the fourth quarter despite Prevost (16 points) and Searfoss (11 points, 8 boards, 6 assists) enjoying good games. Holy Family will see the Rams at least once more, visiting the Gallagher Center to close out the regular season on February 25.
Regardless of individual game results, Laukaitis feels good about the direction of the program and the connection between past and present.
“We wanted to establish a family feel, and with a number of players having alums in their families, it has worked out well,” she said. “We wanted to make it more than basketball and allow the players to meet former players and network. The alums are excited about the team and those connections to our history are valuable and help the entire program.”
The family feel at the school is strong for Laukaitis, who played at Holy Family and was an assistant coach for many years when the team was a juggernaut. She then enjoyed a highly successful ten-year stint as an assistant coach at nearby University of Pennsylvania, where she worked under former HFU head coach Mike McLaughlin, before returning to her alma mater.
“When I found out I got the job (at Holy Family), I honestly cried. I have such pride and love for the program and want to give back in this role,” she said. “We want to build the program to the point where we can’t be afraid to be champions. It takes work but if you want it, you have to create it.
So far, the returns are good for Laukaitis in her quest to guide Holy Family back to the CACC summit. They may be a little ahead of schedule based on the experience of the roster, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get there. For her, the future may harken back to the past, which would work out just fine for anyone with connections to Holy Family.
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National polls are cool, if generally irrelevant. The women’s national poll with the longest history is the WBCA (Women’s Basketball Coaches Association) one, and it is mostly published weekly during the season. But this week there were a few glitches. For some reason, this notice appeared on Tuesday when you clicked onto the January 17, 2023 poll link…
“The WBCA will not publish an NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll this week.”
This followed a brief ‘Advisory’ earlier in the day which read:
“It appears that the WBCA will not be able to publish an NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll this week. As of 2 p.m ET, we have not received a sufficient number of ballots to tabulate a credible poll. We will notify you should this change.”
I’ve been covering Division II women’s basketball for nearly 40 years, and I have never, ever, seen anything like this. There are 23 coaches from around the country voting in this poll and yet not enough of them could be bothered to vote by Tuesday, so this is what the WBCA put out there. I have no idea how many voters the WBCA requires to publish a credible poll but if this is the outcome, I would surmise less than half the coaches on the panel submitted ballots.
By Wednesday afternoon, things had magically changed. The poll suddenly appeared, as it seemed enough coaches had decided to submit ballots to make it a plausible poll. Why not simply delay the publishing of the poll a day or two until this was the case? Do they even canvass their voting constituency?
Women’s basketball needs more publicity, not less, especially at the lower levels. Claims of a lack of coverage are valid. Yet when coaches (who are at the core of the sport) who are tasked to vote can’t even muster enough ballots for their own national poll, how can they ever complain? The WBCA must do better than this.
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Weekly Notables…
Conference play is the focus here, and is the focus for much of the rest of the regular season as teams jockey for positioning…
The South rises!... The CACC South swept last weekend’s crossover set with the North, going 6-0 and winning by an average of almost 16 points a game. Felician was spared (they were idle) and there were a couple of close games, but the South dominated… The closest contest was Georgian Court’s 67-66 win over Caldwell, where Paula Perez-Fabregas (18 points) sank a game-deciding triple with 23 seconds on the clock… Wilmington nipped Alliance, 49-43, annexing their first league triumph of the season. Jade Roberts (12 points, 8 boards) topped the stat sheet for the Wildcats, who rallied from a 16-point deficit in the second period to prevail… Chestnut Hill handed North leader Dominican a 68-51 setback with Morgan Orloski’s 13 points leading four double figure Griffin scorers… Holy Family held Post to single digits in three of the four quarters (17-4 after one frame) on the way to claiming their eighth straight win, 56-34. Taylor Hinkle netted 14 points off the bench and Skyler Searfoss submitted a 10-point, 11-board double-double to lead the way… Goldey-Beacom poured 90 points onto Bridgeport to roll, 90-61, in Delaware. Alexis Harrison (25 points, 7 boards; 7-11 FG, 11-12 FT) was immense in just 17 minutes to front the Lightning attack… Jefferson eased to a 76-56 decision over Bloomfield with Morgan Robinson (14 points, 11 assists) and Sam Yencha (10 points, 11 caroms) jumping off the page… By the end of the week, the North leaders had recovered and picked up wins to keep their divisional gap alive. Dominican made 14-36 from three-point land to help beat Alliance (4-12 from deep), 71-56, and Post was topped by Taina Pagan’s 16 points and 8 boards in a 63-47 win at Felician… Caldwell bumped up to third place in the division thanks to a 61-48 victory at Bloomfield with Casey O’Shaughnessy collecting 20 points, 6 boards and 5 assists… Jefferson ended Holy Family’s winning streak with a 65-50 decision at the Campus Center, led by Haley Meinel (16 points and 8 steals) and Yencha (10 points, 17 boards). In fact, all five Ram starters reached double digits, negating a solid game from Tiger center Carolyn Prevost (16 points), as they reclaimed the South’s top spot… and Georgian Court rode big outings from Jariah Patterson (19 points, 7 caroms) and Tian Addison (13 points, 9 assists) to beat Chestnut Hill, 61-54, and make the middle of the divisional pack much tighter.
If you haven’t noticed, the ECC sports a three-way logjam at the top with red-hot Mercy (riding a current regional-high six game win streak) pulling even with Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas… The Mavericks made it six on the spin with a 52-46 decision at Molloy, with Kellie Nudd (15 points) and Katie Wall (14 points, 8 rebounds) doing the damage… Erin Leary’s 20-point, 14-board, 4-assist gem led STAC to a 60-50 win at Queens to keep their share of the league lead, but Daemen lost to D’Youville for the first time ever (the Saints were 0-18!) on Tuesday, 60-51. Stella Mollica (18 points, 6 boards) and Anna Jankovic (15 points, 6 rebounds) keyed the D’Youville attack, one that closed the game on an 11-2 spree to get the victory. Don’t look now, but the Saints are in fourth place in the loop, just a half-game behind the top trio… Elsewhere in the curcuit, Latavia Jackson (21 points) and Tori Williams (12 points, 16 boards) powered UDC to a 73-62 victory over Queens, dashing a great game from Knight Chelsea Reeves (27 points, 10 rebounds) in the process… Defense keyed the College of Staten Island to a 58-41 victory over Molloy, as the Dolphins held the Lions to 24% from the floor and 2-17 from three-point land. Kyra Rose led the CSI attack with 13 points and 10 boards off the bench… D’Youville picked up an earlier 69-58 win against Roberts Wesleyan thanks to balanced scoring (all five starters between 10-16 points) and a 36-23 rebound bulge, including 16 on the offensive glass… and Grace Galgano’s 25 points (7-12 FG, 11-13 FT) helped Roberts Wesleyan snap a six-game slide as they beat UDC, 82-66. Jackson (29 points) sparked the Firebirds again, but they never led and were undone at the line (RWC 28-33; UDC 15-17 FT) as they tried to rally.
The NE10 is also sporting a three-way tie atop the standings with Bentley, Assumption and Southern New Hampshire sharing the honors… Bentley did have the upper hand until they lost a tough one at home to gritty New Haven, 51-49. Aurora Deshaies converted a put-back with three-tenths of a second left to propel the Chargers to the win in Waltham… Assumption snapped a 40-all tie in the fourth quarter with a 10-3 spell and went on to claim a 57-52 win at Adelphi… Southern New Hampshire prevailed in the battle of Manchester, receiving solid efforts from Adrianna Timberlake (19 points), Jess Knight (15 points, 11 boards) and Ariana Koivisto (15 points) in a 71-63 decision against Saint Anselm. The Penmen came up with an 8-0 fourth quarter binge to take the lead for good (60-53, 4:29) against the Hawks… Le Moyne won their fourth in a row to earn a share of fourth place, beating Southern Connecticut in New Haven, 74-63. Sierra Linnin (22 points; 6-9 3FG) and Haedyn Roberts (21 points, 8 boards) powered the Dolphins to victory… AIC is in lockstep with Le Moyne after they rolled by the College of Saint Rose in Albany, 75-62. The trio of Taylor Tomlinson (23 points, 11 boards), Kayla Robinson (22 points) and Tia-Marie Martinez (17 points) combined to match CSR’s point total for the Yellow Jackets, neutralizing a superb game from Golden Knight Makayla Johnson (26 points, 8 caroms) … A 9-0 fourth period run put Pace ahead to stay in their (56-48, :39) in their 60-49 triumph over St. Michael’s… Over the weekend, Assumption shaded Pace, 64-55. Ja’Lyn Armstrong (18 points; 7-8 FG) was the pick of the lot for the Greyhounds, sharing the spotlight with Setter Tower Lorde (12 points, 19 rebounds), who had her best game of the season… Bentley held St. Michael’s to 27 points (52-27 in Vermont), the fewest the Falcons have allowed in almost a decade… Sydney Lusher’s 18 points and double-doubles from Lytoya Baker (10 points, 13 caroms) and Roberts (12 points, 16 boards) led Le Moyne to a 67-49 win over Southern New Hampshire, snapping the Penmen’s all-time program-best ten-game win streak… Camryn DeBose (27 points) and Leighanna Lister (16 points and a career-high tying 16 rebounds) sparked New Haven to a 69-51 win over cross-town rival Southern Connecticut… Taylor Tomlinson’s (25 points, 6 boards) three-point play with 43 ticks left put AIC ahead for keeps in their 62-60 nail-biter over Adelphi… and the College of Saint Rose shot 49% and made 8-15 from three-point territory, negating a 2-11 showing at the foul line, to collect a 76-57 win against Franklin Pierce.
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