Chris JonesThe women’s basketball team has high hopes for a winning season. Senior Lisa Kqira is the captain this year and feels that the team is going to be great this year. The Lady Cavs are favored to win the Southern Division with 61 points. They also received one first place vote. However, according to the 2002-03 pre-season poll, Gwynedd-Mercy is expected to win the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Championship this year with 66 points and 6 first place votes.
“We played in a summer league together so that has really helped us to develop team unity. As a team, we are really close,” Kqira said.
The team this year includes many new freshmen. Kqira said that some of the freshmen are already emerging as leaders of the team. “It’s so different from last year because we have more girls on the team this season. We have enough people to scrimmage during our practices,” Kqira said. Running through scrimmages allows the women to perfect their technique in preparation for the season which Kqira said may be one of their toughest seasons yet. “There aren’t going to be any easy wins this season. We have a really difficult schedule.”
Big games for the team will come when they face Alvernia and Gwynedd-Mercy. The Women’s DIII News Preseason Poll ranks Alvernia 11. However, Alvernia is ranked behind Gwynedd-Mercy with 65 points and 5 votes for first place in the PAC pre-season poll in the North. One of the biggest games of the season will be when the Lady Cavs take on Gwynedd-Mercy. “We’re really excited to play Gwynedd-Mercy this season, especially because they beat us in the finals last season,” Kqira said.
The Lady Cavs will start their season November 22 and 23 with the Tip Off Tournament. “Of course our goal is to come out on top at the tournament, but it is going to give us a really good sense of how well we will play as a team throughout the season,” Kqira said.
