Nov. 11, 2008

The Southwestern University women's basketball program has made the SCAC conference tournament each of the last three years, but is still without a tournament win, one of the hurdles Coach Ruder would like to get over in the 2008-09 season. Entering her fourth year at the helm, Coach Ruder hopes to develop her young team early, paying particular attention to the tenacious Pirate team defense.

The graduation of five seniors in each of the last two seasons has made for many new faces in addition to relying heavily on their lone senior Tasha Azizi. Azizi returns as the leading scorer from last season and a 3rd Team All-SCAC selection. Providing additional height inside will be 6'2" sophomore returner Staley Mullins who played in all 26 games as a first-year, as well as junior forward Katie Kern and sophomore forward Hana Morton.

On the perimeter, junior Narisa Trammell was strong as the team's starting point guard and will be looked to for leadership as well as a 3-point threat after hitting 32.9% from this range last season. Returners Jessica Herbst and Jennifer Tindle will round out the back court helping bring a more up tempo style to the Pirates this season.

Several first-years will be looked to for quality minutes and immediate contributions; especially on the perimeter. Nekia Tharps, Taylin Eckols, and Jaci Jones can each drain the outside shot and take it strong to the hoop therefore providing a strong scoring attack. Inside, 6'2 Reilly Robertson is expected to contribute early and can supply some relief to Azizi. Adding depth to the post play is first-year Bronwyn Tyler.

The Pirates will tip-off the season with a home opener on Saturday, November 15 at 3:00 against Pomona-Pitzer University out of California. The game will be played in the Robertson Center on Southwestern University's campus in Georgetown, Texas. For those unable to make it to the first game, it will be broadcast live via SummitTicket at http://www.summitticket.com/choose.php?Category=sport_live.