WBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[emufan]

I take it Katy Herr got married over the summer.

If so, my congrats!

[fairmont1113]

Yes, congratulations to Katy Herr-Lovell of BC on making pre-season All-American Honors! Much deserved!

The women's basketball had their media day today down in Roanoke, and the BC Eagles were voted as the favorite for this season. Here's the link to the article and to the complete list of team's and rankings.

http://www.odaconline.com/0607wbbpoll.htm

2006-07 ODAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll

(#) indicates first place votes
1. Bridgewater (8)
2. Virginia Wesleyan (2)
3. Randolph-Macon (1)
4. Roanoke
5. Washington & Lee
6. Emory & Henry
7. Eastern Mennonite
8. Guilford
9. Lynchburg
10. R-M Woman's Coll.
11. Hollins

[feelthesting10]

The team I think everyone should watch out for upsetting some people is Lynchburg. They are EXTREMELY young, boasting 15 freshman and only two seniors on the roster. They have a nice tandem down low in Caroline Wesley and Jessie Bridge, both of whom have put up nice numbers in the ODAC. Rachel Leake, a freshman point guard, has nice potential at the point guard poistion and can really lead a team as I watched her play some last year in HS. I also know that a few other freshman are very good and athletic. It will be interesting to see how fast the kids can get adjusted, but it looks like Coach Tobey has done well hitting the recruiting path. I look for L'Burg to knock off at least one "top 3" team in the league, and would not be surprised to see them finish in the top five in the league. Also, my prediction for the future, watch out for Hollins in about 2-3 years. Coach Wags can recruit the valley, and once he does, they will become competitive.

[valleybballfan]

It will be quite interesting to see how Lynchburg does with all of their freshmen??? If their freshmen are as good as some people are saying they are, then who knows what will happen???

I think saying that Jessie Bridge has been putting up nice numbers in the ODAC is a bit of an overstatement. She is a good player, strong and aggressive, but she is inconsistent and just started seeing quality minutes last season. Her first two seasons she was nonexistent, and last year she was spuradic. She had a three game stretch where she scored 57 points, an average of 19 points, and then the very next seven games she only amassed 24 total points, good for a 3.4 scoring clip during that stretch. This shows she has the potential to be very good for the Hornets, she just needs to stay consistent in order for Lynchburg to do well. 

As for freshmen potential......

The 2002-2003 campaign for Bridgewater saw the Eagles finish with an 11-16 record which was good for 7th place in the ODAC. The very next year, 2003-2004, BC welcomed incoming freshmen (now all seniors) Katy Herr, Jessica Young, Amy Childs, and Shannon Scales. Young, Herr, and Scales were all immediate impact players. Herr lead the team in scoring, assists, steals, was second in rebounding, and was named FOY and 2nd team all ODAC. Immediately the Eagles were thrust back into the winning ranks, they finished tied for first in the regular season with EMU, and eventually lost to RMC in the semifinals. They finished the year 22-6, a vast improvement from the year before. A good class of freshmen really can turn a program around. Just look at this year's senior class for the Eagles and what they did.

[odac fan 4 life]

Yes, Katy Herr did get married. It is now Katy Lovell, but for basketball they are using the hyphenated name.

If my information is correct, the young man she married coaches junior varsity boys' basketball at a local school and is going to Bridgewater part-time. I think they have been together for about 3 1/2 years, but he wasn't around Katy's freshmen year because of serving in the military.

Congratulations to Katy for much deserved recognition as a pre-season All-American!

Can't wait for the season to tip off! It will be interesting!

[GAVA]

It will be quite interesting to see how Lynchburg does with all of their freshmen??? If their freshmen are as good as some people are saying they are, then who knows what will happen???

Their roster consists of 13 freshmen and 2 seniors?  ???What did they have last year?

[feelthesting10]

They had a normal breakdown last year, but some of the players decided to play other sports this year. They will miss Jessie Pierce, who was a nice shooting frosh a year ago.

[fairmont1113]

Bridgewater is traveling to Arlington, VA today to scrimmage Marymount. Scrimmage starts at 1.

I heard that Lynchburg had a good showing in a scrimmage against Southern Virginia. How is the competition in the USCAA?

[odacfan99]

Bridgewater is traveling to Arlington, VA today to scrimmage Marymount. Scrimmage starts at 1.

I heard that Lynchburg had a good showing in a scrimmage against Southern Virginia. How is the competition in the USCAA?

[odacfan99]

Bridgewater is traveling to Arlington, VA today to scrimmage Marymount. Scrimmage starts at 1.

I heard that Lynchburg had a good showing in a scrimmage against Southern Virginia. How is the competition in the USCAA?

Not sure but they did win the USCAA National Championship last year and have 4 returning starters.  Don't know how the USCAA competition stacks up against the NCAA and NAIA but I do know Southern Virginia has 4 NCAA D1 teams on its regular season schedule for 2007. I'm guessing if Lynchburg had a good showing, they could surprise a lot of ODAC teams.  I know Booker and Dahn will be impact players immeidately...

[mybleedinghands]

Bridgewater is traveling to Arlington, VA today to scrimmage Marymount. Scrimmage starts at 1.

I heard that Lynchburg had a good showing in a scrimmage against Southern Virginia. How is the competition in the USCAA?

Not sure but they did win the USCAA National Championship last year and have 4 returning starters.  Don't know how the USCAA competition stacks up against the NCAA and NAIA but I do know Southern Virginia has 4 NCAA D1 teams on its regular season schedule for 2007. I'm guessing if Lynchburg had a good showing, they could surprise a lot of ODAC teams.  I know Booker and Dahn will be impact players immeidately...

Lynchburg looked good, but Southern Virginia looked bad (ball handling and decision making by their guards was terrible at best), which made Lynchburg look damn good. And Lynchburg didn't even have Caroline Wesley on the court (injured but she is scheduled to play in the regular season opener). Kristina Darby and Dana Esposito simply tore through the SVA defense like a hot knife through butter. Those two girls are simply remarkable players. This team is going to be surprising people this year and for years to come. Tobey did a hell of a job recruiting and if she keeps recruiting like this, LC will be a strong contender for the ODAC championship!

[fairmont1113]

So, Scottie Too Hottie, give us your unbiased opinion.....you obviously feel Lynchburg deserves to be higher then their pre-season ranking of #9 in the league, where would you put them considering the talent of their freshmen? Would you put them up in the front of the pack with BC, RMC, and VWC, or would you put more towards the middle of the pack? What do you think?

[mybleedinghands]

Middle of the pack. It's a young team, young teams generally tend to have some letdown games against opponents they should beat. Give them a year or two of seasoning and then we can talk about being "up in the front of the pack."

[valleybballfan]

Bridgewater scrimmaged Marymount today and looked very good against a good program. Marymount has won 10 of the last 15 CAC championships, was a final four team in 2002, elite eight in 2004, and seven other times they have been sweet 16 teams. This year they are not ranked but they are receiving votes for the top 25. Bridgewater won 2 of the 3 halves, and the one half they lost they did not use their starters very much, but still only lost by a couple of points. I can not remember all the details, but I know they looked good and had some goodlooking freshmen.

[GAVA]

  I know Booker and Dahn will be impact players immeidately...

I heard that all 4 of the Richmond area freshmen played AAU ball together so should have some chemistry. We will see how that translate to the college hardwood.