Oct. 16, 2009

Photo gallery from the first practice

With a crew of nine veterans and six newcomers, the UMass Lowell women's basketball team began workouts on Thursday on a mission to return among the Northeast-10 Conference elite programs.

The River Hawks are looking to rebound from an 8-19 overall record and a 5-17 clip in the NE-10 in 2008-09. But the season was not without several highlights.

Against the top four teams in the Conference - NCAA Tournament finalist Franklin Pierce, Stonehill, Bentley and American International College - UMass Lowell went 1-7, but lost by an average of 5.6 points.

In all, the River Hawks' 19 losses were by an average of a mere 1.1 points while 15 of the losses were by 10 points or less. Outside of the NE-10, UMass Lowell went 3-2, suffering its first non-conference loss in nearly three years.

Among the returning players is senior F Jen Valente (Prospect, CT) who registered a team-high 12.0 points per game while shooting .508 from the floor and .778 from the free throw line.

Senior G Rahshala Valentine (Cincinnati, OH) returns after compiling 9.8 points and 3.8 assists. Valentine also developed into a long range threat, converting .358 of her attempts from 3-point territory (34-95).

Senior G Megan Berry (Ipswich, MA), who chipped in 9.4 points while shooting .358 from behind the arc (59-165), ranked among the Conference's 3-point leaders.

"I think we're going to have to get out and run, which we've always liked to do," said head coach Kathy O'Neil, entering her 25th season. "I think we have a little more depth at the point and at the perimeter than we've had.

"Defensively, we'll be smaller than we've been in the past," she added. "We are going to have to figure out how to adjust."

Highlighting the newcomers and expected to have an immediate impact is senior Amanda McGrew (Santa Monica, CA), who transfers in for her final season after playing three years at the University of Rhode Island. With the Rams, McGrew started seven of eight games last season (4.8 ppg), which was cut short due to an injury.

As a junior, however, McGrew registered 9.5 points and shot .385 from long range (557-148), starting 22 of 31 games.

The River Hawks open the season Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Saint Michael's and return home Nov. 21-22 to host the Valley Cup Classic against Caldwell College and Bloomfield.

Just before the new year, UMass Lowell enters the American International Tournament where it meets Concordia (NY) and Wilmington (DE) College, before diving into a grueling NE-10 slate Jan. 2 at Stonehill.

The Northeast-10 Tournament is slated for Sunday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, Mar. 7.