2007-08 Women's Basketball Season Outlook

The 2007-08 Lady Argonauts started official practice on Monday October 1st.  This season promises to be an exciting one as second-year Head Coach Shawn Chaffin will lead a very young squad.  The former UM-Western assistant has 18 new players that competed with the returning players during the fall camp to formulate the rosters for the 2007-08 season.

 

The backcourt will feature Second Team All Frontier Conference selection Laura Keaster (5’7” senior, Belt) who led the team (and finished 2nd in the conference) in scoring last season at 17.3 points per game. Keaster has a tremendous mid-range game and will be counted upon for leadership.  The other returner in the backcourt is Keyla Briese (5’7” sophomore, Chester).  Briese was a part-time starter last season averaging 4.5 points per game while shooting nearly 39% from the 3 point line.

 

Newcomers in the backcourt are plentiful.  Leslie Saunders (5’6” freshman, Bozeman) was the best senior point guard in the state last season in leading the Hawks to their second straight State AA title.  The state champion in the 200 meters, Saunders brings tremendous quickness and a strong knack for distributing the ball and hitting the open shot. Other newcomers in the backcourt that will compete will be Marissa Francis (6’0” freshman, Great Falls), Kylie Bullock (5’10 freshman, Boulder), and Rocky Mountain College transfer Kassie Holmlund (5’6” sophomore, Great Falls).

 

The frontcourt will be significantly bigger than last season.  The newcomers include several junior college transfers and several super talented high school graduates.  Kelsey Hopkins (5’11” freshman, Great Falls) was a 3 time Great Falls Tribune Super Stater at CMR High School.  Also new to the mix will be Ashley Stephen (6’2” junior, Spanaway Lake WA), Jocelyn Moore (6’1’ junior, Bethel WA), Nicole Scott (6’0” junior, Juliaetta ID), and Joslin Swartz (6’0” junior, Great Falls) will bring the size that the program has lacked for several years.  Moore was an all region selection, and Scott led her junior college league in rebounding.  Swartz signed with UM-Western out of high school before transferring to UGF from the University of Montana.

 

Returning post players for the Lady Argos will include Jacqui Millam (5’10” senior, Helena) and Kirilynn Winkler (6’0” freshman, Great Falls), who redshirted last season after transferring from UM-Western at Christmas break last season.

 

The schedule features 15 home games including the Townhouse Inn Classic that will feature Albertsons, Johnson & Wales and MSU-Northern.  Also making the trip to the Electric City for non-conference games will be Lethbridge University, Fresno Pacific, Minot State, Dickinson State, Augustana, and Whitworth.  The Lady Argos will also play Eastern Washington of the Big Sky Conference, and will play two games in California against UC-Santa Cruz and Holy Names.

 

With an overhauled roster and an infusion of size, speed and talent, this figures to be an exciting year for the Lady Argos.  UGF will be trying to eclipse the previous single season high win total of 11 set four years ago. The Frontier Conference will be one of the premier leagues in the country again.  The league qualified four teams again for the National Tourney last spring, with 3 of them getting to the Sweet 16.