Loyola’s women’s basketball team enters the season with high expectations after the ended their last season with the best finish in school history.

The team reached the Gulf Coast Atlhletic Conference championship game and then went on to the Elite Eight in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. They finished with a successful 28-7 overall record, 17 of those wins coming against GCAC opponents.

With the departure of head coach DoBee Plaisance, the Lady Wolfpack, chosen second in the GCAC preseason poll for the 2008-2009 season, are beginning the 2008-2009 under new head basketball coach Kellie Kennedy. Basketball is nothing new to Kennedy, who brings 14 years of experience coaching Division I basketball at Tulane University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Division III Hollins University in Virginia.

Kennedy not only brings coaching experience to Loyola, but brings hands on experience having played four years of Division I basketball for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lady Tar Heels.

She hopes to continue Plaisance’s success but knows that there will be some obstacles ahead of her and the team.

“It’s not a perfect world,” Kennedy said, “so every day, practice and game won’t be perfect. We will have obstacles that we will have to overcome but one thing about the players and my staff is that we all will go back to good places in our heart.”

The team this year will have three starters returning from last season: pre-season All-GCAC guards Trenese Smith, business management junior, and Trenell Smith, business management junior and guard/forward Christine Mainguy, management senior. The Smith twins led their respective team in scoring with averages of 19.71 and 18.4 points per game as well as assists averaging 4.74 and 3.4 dimes per game.

The projected starting lineup this season will consist of Trenell and Trenese Smith, Mainguy, Ndia Hall, psychology sophomore, and Rachael Nolan, biology sophomore. According to Kennedy, there won’t necessarily be a set starting lineup for every game; there will be an open competition allowing any one of the players to have an opportunity to earn a starting position.

Kennedy will be looking to newcomers Lauren Pryer, general studies business freshman, Amy Sprout, biology freshman, and Garkeiva Council, sociology freshman, to step up and replace alumna Kiely Schork, who averaged 11 points, two steals and four assists per game.

“We look for everyone, including the freshmen, to contribute to the team,” Kennedy said. “The freshmen coming in are very mature than most incoming freshman,” Trenese Smith said, “They come in bringing a good bit of knowledge for the game of basketball.”

Kennedy believes that a major strength that the team has in their favor is the fact that they have two All-Americans returning to the team. “Trenell and Trenese both have that scorer’s mentality that is hard to come by,” Kennedy said. “Apart from the twins, the other players are very athletic. I think their quickness and speed are going to serve us well on both ends of the floor this year.”

Trenell Smith said, “Change is hard for anybody but I think we are coming along well with the transition from Coach Plaisance last year to Coach Kennedy this year.”

Kennedy is implementing several offensive systems including an up-tempo fast break type offense that pushes the basketball up court and the triangle offense. The triangle was a part of the offense for the Wolfpack last season but it wasn’t utilized as much as it will be this upcoming year.

“We ran a little of the triangle offense last year but it wasn’t our main offense; the triangle seems to be the offense that we are going to continue to work on until we get better at it,” Trenese Smith said.

As for the defensive side of the ball, the Wolfpack will run a mixture of man-to-man defense along with a zone defense throughout the game. According to the Smith twins, defense is an area of basketball that the team needs to work towards getting stronger. At points in the game last year, the defense broke down on several occasions, which allowed the opposing team to score easy baskets.

Aside working toward building chemistry and a bond with each other, Loyola will have to overcome their team of nine players as opposed to the eleven-player team last season. While the bench rotation provides four players that they can call to get in the game this year, but the comfort of Kennedy knowing that she has several different options on the bench is no longer there. “Since I have been here, we have never really had more than 10 players on the team,” Trenese Smith said, “so it’s not really a factor. Everyone coming off the bench will have a chance to play and play their part.”

The basketball team traveled to Baton Rouge, La., to play in an exhibition game against the # 24 NCAA ranked Louisiana State University Lady Tigers Oct. 5 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Entering their first game under Kennedy, the team was able to get a glance at the things they were strong in and the areas that needed some work.

Loyola, coming into the game ranked #24 in the NAIA, jumped out to an early lead 10-2 but fell behind after LSU put together a 26-9 run with two minutes left to play. Regaining their composure, the Wolfpack went on to score five consecutive points, cutting LSU’s lead down to four at halftime 28-24.

Trenese Smith opened the second half with a three point shot bringing the lead to 28-27, the closest Loyola would come to taking the lead the rest of the night. The Tigers then turned up the offense, increasing their lead to as many as 23 points over the course of the half before ending the game with the win 68-50.

Trenese Smith led all scorers for the night with 17 points on five of 15 shooting along with grabbing six rebounds. Trenell Smith also added 14 points.

The Wolfpack’s next basketball game will be on Nov. 20 as they take on Union University in the Rotary Classic in Jackson, Tenn.

Craig Malveaux can be reached at [email protected].