Among five off-season surgeries, two players coming off a redshirt year and the addition of five freshman, the Oregon women’s basketball team is ready for a new season.
“There’s new growth,” head coach Bev Smith said. “The season’s over, we learned some valuable lessons and had some questions asked. Hopefully this is where we’re going to be able to answer them.”
The addition of players, along with a growth in the average height of the team, changes the game plan for the Ducks.
Two of the five freshmen are more than six feet tall — including Portland native Jessica Shetters, who takes over the title of tallest teammate at 6-foot-6-inches, which is two inches over senior Catherine Kraayeveld.
“We have a great nucleus of centers, beginning in the low block with Andrea (Bills),” Smith said. “Catherine can do a lot of things offensively and certainly Carolyn Ganes with her year last year and growing this year. And Jessie Shetters sort of rounding that height out, I think it gives us a lot of different combinations.”
Kraayeveld and senior Kayla Steen lead the team in their final year, while Bills and juniors Kedzie Gunderson have two years of Pacific-10 Conference experience.
Three players — Ganes, junior Brandi Davis and sophomore Yadili Okwumabua — each have a year of varsity experience with Oregon.
Ganes and Davis are the returning co-leaders in scoring from Oregon’s 2002-03 campaign.
Included with the seven new players are two who spent last season as redshirts after transferring.
Point guard Corrie Mizusawa spent two years at St. Mary’s (Calif.) before making the move to Eugene. She will take on starting duties as point guard.
Chelsea Wagner is also ready to play after a redshirt year with the Ducks. The Springfield native spent her freshman season at Hawaii before transferring to Oregon to be closer to home.
Five freshmen also join the team, including Canadian Kaela Chapdelaine and Australian Eleanor Haring. The two double the number of non-United States players on Oregon’s roster, but the former is expected to be out for the season with an ankle injury.
The three freshman from the West Coast spent the summer in Eugene, taking classes and working out with their new teammates.
Cicely Oaks, a graduate of Portland’s Grant High School, led the state in scoring as a senior, playing in the same high school conference as Shetters.
The third freshman, Ashley Allen, made the trek from California for the summer.
Most of the returning players also stayed in Eugene, which helped them stay in the groove of school and build a chemistry among the players.
“As a whole we get along really well on and off the court, which I think is important,” Kraayeveld said. “It’s good to like each other on the court, but also to go off the court and be able to hang out together and just like each other as people and not just as basketball players.”
The players talked a lot about their chemistry during Friday’s media event, making the point that chemistry is an important part of their program.
“I’m really excited,” Ganes said. “We’ve got a great group of girls coming in and everybody’s having fun together. We’re ready to go.”