LEAVING THEIR LEGACY
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
WMUBroncos.com is running a five-week series to see who left the most lasting legacy on their respective sport at Western Michigan University.
The following are the results from week four, reflecting on the Bronco women's basketball program.
The winner (188 total votes), with 42.0% of the vote (79 votes), is Casey Rost, followed by the 1984-85 team with 27.1% (51 votes). Rounding out the voting was Carrie Moore with 21.8% (41 votes), program founder Fran Ebert with 8.0% (15 votes) and Kina Brown with 1.1% (2 votes).
1984-85 Team
The 1984-85 squad had one of the most successful campaigns in school history. The Broncos finished their regular season 19-10, and won the school's first ever MAC Championship.
The Brown and Gold received honorable mention status in the national polls, and went on to play No. 1 Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 1984-85 team featured Shelly Klare, Tracy Wells, Shannon Picknell, Vicky Musky and Brenda Goldner, all of whom are members of WMU's 1,000 point club.
Klare is currently sixth all-time in scoring for the Broncos (1459), and second for career steals (273) and Wells is WMU's career assist leader with 699.
This banner year marked a remarkable turnaround for the squad, as two years before WMU finished their season 3-23 overall and 0-18 in the MAC.
Kina Brown
Kina Brown finished her career as WMU's all time leading scorer (1,814) and now stands third in the WMU annuals, and is 15th all-time in the MAC. She is currently second in the record books for career rebounds (911), and tied for most career free throws made (541) with Carrie Moore and Casey Rost.
Brown was named to the U.S. National Junior Team in 1992 and 1993, and received First Team All-MAC honors three times.
Fran Ebert
A true icon in women's athletics at WMU, Fran Ebert was responsible for the creation of both the women's basketball and softball programs at WMU. She served as the first head coach for both programs, and became the longest-tenured women's basketball coach in school history after donning the whistle for 15 years.
Ebert compiled a 186-133 record and had three teams earn state Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women titles. In nearly two decades as coach, Ebert experienced just four losing seasons.
She was inducted into the WMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame in 1992.
Among her many other contributions to Western Athletics, Ebert also served 26 years (1983-89) in the WMU physical education department as an associate professor.
Carrie Moore
An All-American Honorable Mention selection and MAC Co-Player of the Year while at Western Michigan, Carrie Moore led all Division I players with a 25.4 scoring average her senior season. She is the school's all-time leading scorer (2,224) and set the MAC mark for points in a single season (813). A three-time First Team All-MAC honoree, Moore finished her Bronco career third on the MAC all-time scoring list.
Moore rewrote the Western Michigan record book in the 2006-07 season, setting nine school scoring records and four MAC records. She went on to play professionally in Poland, and has twice participated in WNBA preseason camps.
Casey Rost
Casey Rost, a three time First Team All-MAC honoree, owns the all-time MAC record for three-pointers made with 280. Rost also holds the WMU record for three-point field goals in a season with 79 in 2003-04.
Formerly WMU's all-time leading scorer, Rost is now second with 2,061 career points, and was the fastest Bronco to reach 1,000 career points, completing the task in just 59 games, and became the first Bronco ever to reach 2,000 career points.
In 2003, Rost was the first Bronco ever to be named MAC Player of the Year and was also named MAC Tournament MVP after leading WMU to the MAC Tournament title and the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1984-85 and just its second overall. That year she set the MAC record for most points in a tournament with 80. She followed that her senior season by taking the Broncos to the 2004 WNIT Tournament, where the Brown and Gold became the first team in the MAC and at WMU ever to advance to a quarterfinal game in a postseason tournament.
