Coach Deadrick Interview

2011-12 UMAC Preseason Poll

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Coach Stacy Deadrick and the Saints women's basketball team come in to the 2011-12 season looking to improve on a 10-15 record from last season, a year the team went .500 in conference play at 7-7.

The Saints ended last season fairly well winning three of their last five games, ending with a winning record at home.  They are picked to finish fifth in the conference according to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) preseason poll, but as always, hope to top that and win it all.

With a team returning only two seniors, the Saints will rely on a lot of young talent going into the 2011-12 campaign.

Who's Gone
The Saints had just two seniors on last year's team in Kelly Cinquegrani (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS) and Katie Kimm (Mora, Minn./Mora HS).  Cinquegrani was an impact player for the Saints starting every game and averaging 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game (PPG/RPG).  Cinquegrani ended the season with a .458 shooting percentage which ranked seventh in the UMAC.  As a senior, Kimm only started two games but played in all but one.  With limited playing time, Kimm's numbers weren't big, but her senior leadership was vital to the team.  In the time she did play, Kimm shot the ball well making 54.5% of the shots she took.

One other impact player who won't be on this year's roster is Bri Allen (West St. Paul, Minn./Henry Sibley HS).  Allen was named second-team all-conference and led the team in scoring and was second in rebounding averaging 12.2 PPG and 6.7 RPG.

Returners
The Saints return just two players as seniors for this season in Laura Amys (South Range, Wis./Superior HS) and Taylor Fellbaum (Minong, Wis./Northwood HS).  Amys played in all 25 games last season, including five starts and was fourth on the team in scoring and the team's top rebounder with 6.2 PPG and 7.2 RPG.  Amys also led the team with 31 blocks in a season, which earned her a spot on the All-UMAC Defensive team.  Fellbaum played in every game as well and started in all but three on her way to averaging 5.2 PPG and 32 steals, third best on the team.  Both Amys and Fellbaum have played in every game of their college career and will bring the experience necessary to lead the team this season.

The Saints return no juniors for this season's team and return only five sophomores.  One of those sophomores is last year's co-freshman of the year Kayla Heisler (Remer, Minn./Northland HS).  Heisler played in 23 games last season and was second in the team in scoring with 9.2 PPG and led the team in three-point percentage shooting 36.5% from behind the arc.  Joining Heisler as sophomores are Savanna Treichel (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) and Sammy Doucette (Colfax, Wis./Colfax HS (UW-River Falls)).  Treichel played in every game and started 12. She made 19 three-pointers, which were second on the team.  Doucette transferred from UW-River Falls mid-year and ended up playing 12 games for the Saints and will look to have a big impact in her first full season as a Saint.  Caitlin McKernon (Coon Rapids, Minn./Fridley HS) played in 23 games, including three starts for CSS a season ago and Addy Stepaniak (Waconia, Minn./Holy Family Catholic HS) will look for more playing time rounding out this year's sophomore class.

Newcomers
The Saints welcome eight newcomers to this year's team, one of which is junior transfer Haley Hoyer (Pelican Rapids, Minn./Pelican Rapids HS (North Dakota State College of Science)).  Hoyer played in 61 games for North Dakota State College of Science averaging 8.5 PPG there.  Mariah Hovick (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS) joins the team as a freshman, a quick point guard who was an all-conference selection in high school.  Four newcomers to earn all-conference accolades in high school are Erin Frase (Phillips, Wis./Phillips HS (UW-River Falls)) (UW-River Falls transfer), Elena Huber (Northfield, Minn./Northfield HS), Sadie Ellenson (Henning, Minn./Henning HS) and Lindsay Paulson (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS).  Lindsey Olson (Port Wing, Wis./South Shore HS) was a three-time honorable mention all-conference player in high school and rounding out this year's freshman class is Emily Glomski (Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia/Dhahran HS), from Saudi Arabia, who was two-time athlete of the year at Dhahran High School.

Non-Conference Schedule
As in year's past the Saints have a lot of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) teams on their non-conference schedule.  CSS will kick off the season at home against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  Other WIAC schools on the schedule are UW-Stout, UW-Whitewater, UW-River Falls and UW-Superior.  The Saints will also take on two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) schools in St. Catherine University and the College of St. Benedict.  Other teams on the Saints non-conference schedule before they begin conference play include North Central (MN), Finlandia (Mich.), Webster (Mo.), and Fontbonne (Mo.).

UMAC Schedule.
Coach Deadrick and the Saints come into the UMAC this year picked fifth after finishing fifth a season ago.

The Saints look to top their preseason ranking and finish atop the UMAC, but in order to do so they'll need to take down last year's champion Minnesota-Morris, who went undefeated in 2010-11, and Northland College who is picked to finish second this year.

The Saints look to climb the ladder this year and the ultimate goal is to take the conference in both the regular season and the tournament to advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in program history.