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Check out Jacksonville Journal Courier Article about Highlanders 09-10 season
Published August 6, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a CommentNew Mac Coach Lays Down the Law
2009-08-05 23:24:35
MacMurray College women’s basketball coach Annie Ewing, a former associate attorney for a St. Louis law firm, makes a pretty strong case that her team is on the rise.
Ewing plans on having nine new players in the gym this winter with five incoming freshmen, three transfer students and one other who didn’t play last year committed to playing for the Highlanders. MacMurray posted a record of 6-19 last season, but Ewing hopes to improve that mark in 2009-10.
“I think we’re going to have a lot better season this year,” Ewing said.
Ewing joined the Highlanders in mid-December last season, replacing interim coach Todd Creal. Her previous coaching experience included stops as an assistant coach at St. Louis-area schools Ursuline Academy and Lutheran South.
Ewing said she left her former job because she had more passion for coaching than for law.
“I was basically doing a lot of real estate law in St. Louis,” Ewing said. “And I was coaching high school basketball while I was doing that.”
MacMurray struggled at the beginning of the 2008-09 season, losing its first seven games. The Highlanders picked it up toward the end of the season, however, and reeled off a three-game winning streak in late January.
MacMurray lost the leading scorer from that team to graduation, but the Highlanders return five other players who saw significant minutes. MacMurray had only seven players on its roster last year, so everyone got plenty of playing time.
“We had a lot of girls that were playing 40 minutes a night. All of our games were competitive and they were doing really well, but at the end of the games they were tired,” Ewing said. “So we had to focus a lot of our practices on conditioning instead of working on fundamentals or working on our offense.”
That probably won’t be necessary this year with a roster that has doubled in size.
Kainna Hogan, Ashley Ohlendorf, Sarah Reed, Whitney Wade and Rachel Yeast will join the team as true freshmen, while Sara Coultas (a former North Greene standout), Latoya Jones and Ashley Will have come aboard as transfer students. Beth Boyer, who attended MacMurray last year but did not play basketball, is another addition.
Three of MacMurray’s five new freshmen are coming in from the St. Louis metro area, a spot Ewing targeted in her recruiting efforts.
“I focused a majority of my recruiting in St. Louis because I knew the players and the teams down there,” Ewing said. “I kind of stuck with what I knew.”
Krystal Gundy and Taylor Vollmer will return to the Highlanders this winter as Ewing’s co-captains. Ewing said Gundy has “worked harder than anyone this summer,” and that Vollmer, the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s leading rebounder last year, “can play anywhere on the floor.” Miracle Bell, Christina Ervin and Megan Nutter also return.
Ewing is excited about having a legitimate post presence with Hogan and Will both standing at 6-foot-2. She also likes her team’s shooting ability and depth at guard.
“Our goal is to make the SLIAC tournament this year and I think we can do it,” Ewing said.
Getting the incoming players to mesh with the returners will be the key.
“I think one of the biggest things is going to be working as a team and the new players adjusting to each other,” she said. “It’s a bunch of girls that haven’t played together so that’s what we’re going to have to focus on.”
The MacMurray women’s basketball season begins with a non-conference game against crosstown rival Illinois College on Nov. 15.
Krystal Gundy and Taylor Vollmer Appointed Co-Captains for 2009-2010 Season
Published May 27, 2009 Miscellaneous Leave a CommentCoach Annie Ewing appointed Krystal Gundy and Taylor Vollmer, two returning senior starters, as co-captains for next year. She felt as though both Krystal and Taylor possessed the qualities and characteristics necessary to step up and lead the team next season. When asked about her new role as captain for the 2009-2010 season, Krystal stated, “My role as being a captain is not only to improve my game but help my teammates succeed and get better. By competing hard every day in practice, competing in games will be easy. As for being a captain I have accepted to be a positive role model to not only returning players but incoming and transfer student athletes. My competitive drive, developing skills and just having fun is what I would like to pass on to my teammates; you can be competive and have fun while doing it. My love for the game will help my teammates see I not only get work done on the basketball court but also in the classroom. I will help my teammates by making sure that getting an education is more important than anything; so I will help my teammates be successful not only on the court but help them if needed in the classroom. Being a student athlete is like having a job. I am looking forward to the upcoming season.”
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