KALAMAZOO, Mich.- After three weeks of individual workouts, the Western Michigan women's basketball team hit the hardwood for its first official team practice of the 2013-14 season on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
The Broncos are in their second year under head coach
Shane Clipfell and his staff of assistant coaches,
Rene Haynes,
Kristin Koetsier and
Cara Pearson. Also returning for a second year is graduate assistant
Ebony Cleary, while
Stephanie Smiley joins the program in her first year as the Director of Operations.
“This year's first practice was much different than last year's just due to the fact the players were familiar with me and I was familiar with the players,” Clipfell said. “Much of the beginning of last year was learning about each other and figuring out strengths and weaknesses.
“This year we came in with that foundation already in place. With just a few new faces, we were able to jump right into some things we weren't able to a year ago. We wanted to be a sound defensive team, and I think for the most part we have established that. Now we are able to turn a little more of our focus to offense.”
Western Michigan made a three-game improvement from the year before in Clipfell's first season, and the team's 11-20 overall record went down as the most wins since 2007-08. The Broncos posted a 6-10 mark in the Mid-American Conference and advanced to the second round of the MAC Tournament for the first time in five years. A signature win of the season came in the form of a 55-54 victory over then eight-time defending MAC regular season champion Bowling Green on the Broncos' home floor in February.
WMU returns 11 players from last year's roster and welcomes two freshmen. Among the returners are leading scorer and second leading rebounder, sophomore
Miracle Woods. Woods earned a spot on the MAC All-Freshman Team after averaging 9.0 points and 5.6 rebounds a game her rookie season. Also back is junior
Marquisha Harris, who was tops on the team in rebounding with 5.7 boards per contest, and the second leading scorer behind Woods with 8.9 ppg. Suiting up in her final season is senior center
Rachel Adaline.
“We are still a relatively young team, but we made good progression last year and we will look to continue to build on that. We have a challenging schedule which features some great non-conference matchups, including games against in-state rivals Detroit, Michigan and Oakland. It should be an exciting season.”
Western Michigan will have its first taste of action against outside competition when it plays U-M Dearborn in an exhibition game, Nov. 1. The Broncos have a final preseason tune-up against Trine, Nov. 5, and then begin the regular season with a pair of road games, traveling to UMass, Nov. 8 and Albany, Nov. 10. WMU hosts Detroit in its home opener, Nov. 14, and welcomes Michigan four days later, Nov. 18.
