2007-08 Kalamazoo College Women's Basketball Preview
by Jessica Maas '10

Defense and transition are the focuses of the 2007-08 Kalamazoo College women’s basketball team.

“I think our style of play this year is going to be interesting to watch,” Coach Tes Sobomehin Johnson said.

Coach Johnson enters her third season as the head coach of the Kalamazoo College women’s basketball team. The Hornets were 3-22 overall (2-12 MIAA) last season.

Sobomehin Johnson describes her team as young and promising.

“We’re definitely very young, but we have a lot of new talent, a lot of improved talent from last year,” she said.

The Hornets have eight returning players and eight first-year players.

At the head of the team are seniors Kelsea Howell, Therese Demres, and Emily Collins.

“Our three seniors are providing excellent leadership thus far,” Sobomehin Johnson said.

Howell started in all 25 games for the Hornets last season and was first on the team in scoring with 14.2 points per game. She also shot 39.7 percent from the field and pulled down 5.4 rebounds per game. Demres started 23 games last season and was first on the team with 61 assists. She averaged 6.0 points per game. Collins played in 11 games before participating in the College’s study abroad program.

Other players expected to contribute this season are sophomores Andrea Bedway, Nyemade Cooper, and Briana Hendrix, who recently recovered from a knee injury that cut her season short last year. Freshmen Courtney Kaplan and Kirsten Strawn are also expected to make a an immediate impact.

Returning players Kelsey Bailey and Sarah Thomasma will also aid at the guard and forward positions, respectively. Two freshmen guards and four forwards will add more depth to the program.

The team is also now under the direction of two new assistant coaches: Kate Verseput and Kenneth Robinson. Verseput comes to Kalamazoo College after playing three seasons at Western Michigan University. Robinson coached for 11 years at Portage Central High School prior to his arrival at Kalamazoo.  

“I think we balance each other out well,” Sobomehin Johnson said of the new coaching staff.

Kalamazoo College opens the season at the Manchester, Ind. Kick-Off Tournament on November 16-17, where they will be joined Women’s DIII Newspreseason No. 1 ranked Capital University. A month later they will travel to Indiana to play Earlham College. Soon afterwards the Hornets will host their own tournament, the Kalamazoo Classic, before they travel to New York to match up with FDU-Florham. The Hornets non-conference play will round out with Oberlin College at home, five days after facing Case Western University on the road. Coach Sobomehin Johnson will look to outlast her former boss, Oberlin head coach Christa Champion, on the second try, after falling 47-54 to the Yeowomen last season.

Kalamazoo College will open at home in a conference match-up against preseason No. 7 ranked Calvin College on November 27. The team will continue their Hornets Kids Club tradition starting on December 1 when they face Tri-State University, and Alumnae Day will occur on January 26, when the Hornets tip-off against Olivet.