Season Outlook
The 2008-09 season will mark a new beginning for the Haverford College women’s basketball program.
Starting at the top, the Fords will be led by coach Bobbi Morgan who takes over a Scarlet and Black squad this season following successful head coaching stints at The Academy of Notre Dame at Villanova, Haverford High School, and most recently Cabrini College where she averaged 16.5 wins over four seasons and guided the 2007-08 team to a Pennsylvania Athletic Conference title and a spot in the NCAA national tournament.
Morgan will spend a busy first season at Haverford creating a new outlook and culture for a program that has had just one season of double-digit wins in its program history.
Working in her favor for this cultural change is a trio of returners in their final season not only providing strong senior leadership but also supplying a contagious hunger to end their careers on a positive note.
Six-foot senior forward Brittany Lattisaw led the 2007-08 squad in scoring with a 14.5 points per game average and pulled down a team-leading 138 rebounds over the course of the season. Her 47 blocks were more than double any other player on the team and she led the Centennial Conference in blocks per game.
Senior 5-foot-7-inch guard Kathleen Abels started 19 games for the Fords last season and led the conference in minutes per game. Abels was the go-to player for Haverford outside the 3-point arc last year, finishing ninth in league rankings for 3-point field goals.
Rounding out the senior triumvirate is 6-1 center Natalie Richman. Richman is a solid defensive presence inside who can also score in the pivot. Look for her to take some of the scoring pressure off of Lattisaw in the post.
The on- and off-court leadership Lattisaw, Abels, and Richman provide will be important for Morgan who has walked into a youthful locker room. After the seniors, Morgan will look to a talented group of sophomores and freshmen to contribute valuable minutes.
Five-foot-11-inch sophomore forward Liz Mayell and 5-11 sophomore center Meaghan Ryan will need to eat up minutes to give Lattisaw and Richman some recovery time on the bench, and one or both may even join the senior pair to give Morgan a ‘big’ line-up on the court.
Another pair of sophomores, 5-8 guard Nia Richardson and 5-5 guard Alejandra Alvarez, will also likely see increases in court time this year after sitting behind Liz Theirbert last season, a now graduated guard that led the Fords in steals and was one of the team’s assist leaders while contributing a 12.5 points per game scoring average.
Expectations are that three freshman will also see a lot of court time over the long season even as they make the transition from high school to college ball.
Twin 5-7 sisters Danielle and Dominque Harrison could do a lot of the ball-handling for Morgan this year which should free up Abels on the perimeter. Five-foot-9 guard/forward Allie Lieberman will swing back and forth between the back court and front court as substitution patterns and opponents dictate her position.
The bottom line for Morgan in season one will be to create a changed culture within the program of being competitive on a game-in, game-out basis. Strong senior leadership, youthful enthusiasm and energy, and an overall more athletic squad wants to send a message— now and for the future—that the Fords will work to compete from opening tip to final buzzer, and any opponent better be ready for a new-look Haverford team.
Centennial Conference Preseason Poll
The Fords were picked to finish 11th by the coaches and sports information directors in preseason conference voting. Following behind Muhlenberg at the top of the spot with 13 first-place votes and 192 points were Gettysburg, Dickinson, and Franklin & Marshall who each picked up three first-place votes from the early poll.
- Muhlenberg (13 first place votes) — 192 points
- Gettysburg (3) — 172
- Dickinson (3) — 154
- F&M (3) — 148
- McDaniel — 125
- Johns Hopkins — 120
- Ursinus — 107
- Swarthmore — 68
- Washington — 61
- Bryn Mawr — 33
- Haverford — 30