Upcoming in Gray Wolves Basketball: Following its season-opening victory at Grace Christian, Lourdes will play three games in four days beginning on Saturday afternoon. Lourdes travels to Goshen to take on the Maple Leafs before wrapping up its three-game road trip to open the season at Ohio Christian on Monday evening. The Gray Wolves welcome Wright State-Lake to the Ebeid Recreation Center on Tuesday to open the home portion of their schedule.
Head Coach John Kenger: First-year head coach
John Kenger will guide the Gray Wolf bench this season. Kenger owns a 1-0 (1.000) record with the Gray Wolves. Overall as a women's collegiate head coach, Kenger has a 40-54 (.419) record in four seasons. Â He is the fourth head coach in Lourdes program's history.
Series Notes: Lourdes is a perfect 3-0 all-time against Goshen, defeating the Maple Leafs once in each of the program's first three seasons. The teams will meet for the first time since Nov. 12, 2013. Ohio Christian and Lourdes will square off for the first time on Monday night, while Tuesday's home-opener against Wright State-Lake will be the third meeting between the two schools. Lourdes owns a 2-0 record against the Lakers after sweeping the two-game season series in 2017-18.
Wrapping Up Last Week: Lourdes began the season with a victory for the fourth time in the last five seasons as it clipped Grace Christian 87-64 on Tuesday afternoon to tip off the 2018-19 campaign.Â
Scouting Goshen: The Maple Leafs enter the matchup against Lourdes after defeating Aquinas 76-72. In their victory over Aquinas, Sydney Stein and Graysen Cockerham each tallied a team-high 14 points, while Taniece Chapman and Kiarah Copeland scored 13 and 10 points respectively off the bench. Chapman also pulled down 11 rebounds to complete her double-double.
Scouting Ohio Christian: Ohio Christian is still searching for its first victory of the young season following an 0-2 start to the year. The Trailblazers will take on Bethel (Ind.) before meeting with Lourdes. Through two games this season, Helaina Limas leads the team scoring 15.5 points per contest. Staci Dinsmore also averages double-figures with 13.5 points per contest and leads the team in rebounding (9.5 rpg), blocks (5) and steals (9).
Scouting Wright State-Lake: The Lakers will meet UM-Dearborn, Lawrence Tech and Georgetown (Ky.) prior to its game at Lourdes. Wright State-Lake opened the season at home and fell 107-77 to Grace in its only contest this season. In that contest Mikayla Stump led the Lakers with 12 points, while Ka'Rina Mallory and Kelsie Hunt each netted 10 points. Kenadee Dixon added a team-high eight rebounds off of the bench for the Lakers.
Seeing Double: In the Gray Wolves' season-opening 87-64 victory over Grace Christian, four athletes tallied double-figures.
Christiana Jefferson scored a team-high 13 points, while
Sara Semler and
Jami Hardy each added 11 points apiece and
Sydney Miller notched 10 points. Hardy registered her first double-double of the season after adding a game-high 10 rebounds.
Making Their Debuts: Several Gray Wolves made their Lourdes debut on Tuesday in Lourdes' matchup with Grace Christian.
Ramiah Henry,
Ra'Zhane Newberry,
Sirena Pitts,
Keyvona Davis,
Ashley Hurt and
Hunter Kershaw all donned a Gray Wolf uniform for the first time. Newberry made her collegiate debut in the victory. Davis, Hurt and Kershaw all played together at Columbus State.
Lourdes in Home Openers: The Gray Wolves are 4-3 all-time in home openers and have won three of their last four home openers. Lourdes is 1-1 all-time when playing its first contest in the Ebeid Recreation Center. Lourdes fell 92-75 to Midway is its first contest in the Ebeid Recreation Center in 2016-17 before opening the 2017-18 season with a 79-63 victory over Great Lakes Christian.
Top Returners: The Gray Wolves lost their lone senior and leading scorer from last season, as
Tatyana Reynolds led the team with 14.0 points per contest.
Sydney Miller and
LaTyrah Beasley return this season after ranking second (12.6 ppg) and third (10.6 ppg), respectively on the team last season. Miller scored a team-high 353 points last season for Lourdes. Beasley brings back a presence under the bucket for the Gray Wolves as she led the team with 7.3 rebounds per game, including a team-high 69 offensive rebounds.
Christiana Jefferson also returns this season after dishing out a team-best 110 assists last season and recording a team-high 34 steals.
Mirandia Green, the team's fourth leading scorer from a season ago is set to make her return following a season-ending knee injury which sidelined her for much of the 2017-18 season.
This and That: Lourdes is 54-153 all-time after tipping off the program's eighth season ... Lourdes went a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe in its season-opener after shooting only .598 from the line last season ... The Gray Wolves are 4-1 all-time in overtime contests ... Lourdes is 1-36 all-time against NAIA Division II top-25 foes, dropping all four games against ranked foes last season.
