Virginia Division IV basketball championships are beginning to pile up at Mary Washington College, but the goal of the 1981-82 squad is to win one more before moving up to Division III for the 1982-83 season. And prospects for that eventuality are promising.
All Division IV tournament selection Trish Long returns for her sophomore season at a forward spot. The 5-9 scorer will be joined along the front line by another sophomore, 5-11 Melanie Taylor, and a 6-0 freshman center, Ruth Bonner. Bonner, an All-Pittsburgh, PA selection at Avonworth High School, is expected to lead the team in rebounding. Taylor, who finished last season with a dominating defensive effort, has shown offensive improvement in preseason practice and promises to become a consistent force on the front line.
Relieving that trio will be another 6-0 newcomer, Amy Howe, an All District center at Fairfax High School, sophomore Kathy McCaughey, and returning starters, junior Kim Stephenson, an all conference pick as a freshman, and sophomore leaper, Kim Poindexter. At the guard position, captains Jennifer Benner and Jenny Utz, a junior and a senior respectively, will be joined by three freshmen-1981 All Gunston District MVP Joanne Ciccone three sport athlete Sue Lehman, an excellent ball handler, and Stephanie Poh.
A major strength of the team will be bench depth. "We will have people capable of starting on the bench as well as players with specific talents available for spot duty," Coach Gallahan remarked. "Our height will allow us to do more and different things both offensively and defensively. We will match up better heightwise and be stronger in the rebounding area."
Mary Washington will be running a quintet this winter. "We will definitely try to run as much as we can," the fifth year coach continued. "We have a lot of ball handling ability at guard and speed in center position as well as at guard." The expected move to Division III will test the strength of the Blue Tide. "Division IV served its purpose," Gallahan said. "It gave us a place to play while we were building our program, getting ourselves established. We gained experience with equal competition. We won the first championship by two points and the second by only five. But," she continued, "Our team has improved each year. We are ready to move up where the competition is tougher."
Mary Washington now competes in VAIAW Division IV, a totally non-scholarship division beginning its third basketball season. The Division was initiated in 1978 in an effort to form an equitable pool of competition for small, non-scholarship teams in Virginia.