Image by John Love/Lowell Sun
11/11/2016
Lowell Sun
By Matt Langone
LOWELL -- It was just two seasons ago that the UMass Lowell women's basketball team finished one game below .500 (14-15) in just their second year as a Division 1 program.
In 2015-16, the team fell on some hard times, with a record of 4-24 and just 1-15 in America East Conference play.
The River Hawks hope the latter was an aberration as they open the 2016-17 season on Friday at Towson (7 p.m.).
On the plus side, third-year head coach Jenerrie Harris returns two of her top three leading scorers from last year. Junior forward Kayla Gibbs averaged 11.9 points and 7.6 rebounds, while senior guard Nicole Hayner, a Bishop Guertin product, averaged 11.7 points and made a team-high 49 3-pointers.
Senior guard Asia Mitchell-Owens started 17 games for UML and will likely be counted on by Harris to contribute a little bit of everything. Sophomore forward Katherine Smith appeared in all 28 games as a freshman.
Four freshmen have also joined the squad, all of whom are guards. Megan Hendrick (Alexandria, Va.), Markayla Sherman (Cincinnati, Ohio), Felicia Korte (Watertown) and Shawnkia McCallum (Perry Hall, Md.) will all try to earn minutes and provide depth.
The River Hawks will once again play a competitive non-conference schedule. They'll travel to sixth-ranked Maryland on Sunday, Indiana on Nov. 23 and Boston University on Nov. 26 to highlight the schedule.
This is the final year of the program's four-year transition period to Division 1.
It will be postseason eligible beginning in 2017-18.