Women post winning season
The Lady Bulldogs’ 2007 basketball season came to a close when their upset bid of Tabor, the NAIA’s 13th ranked team, fell four points short in the KCAC quarterfinals.
But, the season was not without its high points as the Bulldogs doubled their win total of last season. In their second season under coach J.D. Gravina, the Bulldogs’ 14-13 final record marked only the third winning season by the McPherson women in the last 25 years, and their 14 wins equaled the fifth highest single season, win total in school history.
The Bulldogs opened their season with five straight non-conference wins and stood 6-1 entering KCAC play. Picked to finish seventh and eighth in the coaches’ and media pre-season polls, the Lady Bulldogs were the surprise of the conference’s first round as they posted a 6-3 KCAC mark which included road wins over Bethany, Southwestern, and Kansas Wesleyan while suffering losses at the hands of the KCAC’s nationally ranked and pre-season top three picks.
Starting their second trip through the conference with a 12-5 overall record, the Bulldogs found themselves on the receiving end of everyone’s “best effort” of the season, and the result was a 2-8 record down final stretch but included a season sweep of Bethany.
A tough 77-74 loss at Friends concluded the Lady Bulldog’s disappointing sixth place, 8-10 KCAC season, but avoided the play-in round of the KCAC post-season tournament
“Our win-loss record fizzled out the final month of the season, but I still believe we were improving and playing better (than the first half of the season),” said head coach J.D. Gravina.. “I believe those two losses (at Friends and at Tabor), showed we can play with anybody in the conference, at home or on the road.”
Two Lady Bulldogs received KCAC post-season recognition. Junior April Woody was named to the All-KCAC honorable mention squad after finishing the regular season ranked among the NAIA’s top 10 in free throw percentage. Kristen Ozbun was named to the KCAC All-Freshman team. Leading the Bulldogs in scoring was McPherson native Jamie Sims at 12.6 points per game.
Recruiting for the 2008 season started out with a bang as Gravina inked 6’4” Whitney Pegram, former Big 12 Conference “Newcomer of the Year” at Oklahoma State University.
“We graduate four great leaders (Abby Suiter, Sheila Bevan, Jamie Harvey, Renee Hall), but the foundation is being laid to move up the KCAC charts.”
