Women's Basketball - Aurora University

Meet the AssistantCoachesMOLLY JONESAssistant Coach(Second Season)Molly Jones enters her second seasonthis year as an assistant coach. Jones playedbasketball at Aurora University for the lasttwo seasons and helped lead the LadySpartans to an NCAA Tournament selectionin the 2001-2002 season. Jones will graduate in June with a BAin physical education and a minor in coaching. She plans toteach physical education at the elementary level. During hercareer at AU, she was a two-time Most Valuable Player, twotimeAll-NIIC, 2001-2002 Aurora University Female Athlete ofthe Year, 2001-2002 NIIC Player of the Year, D3HOOPS.ComAll-Region, Verizon Academic All-District, and NIIC AcademicAll-Conference. Jones looks forward to working with andlearning from Coach Buckley, Coach Guyett, and the AU LadySpartans.MICHELLE LEXOWAssistant Coach(First Season)Michelle Lexow returns this year tothe Spartans as a student assistant.Lexow played basketball at AuroraUniversity for the past four seasons andwas a part of the Spartans three-timeNorthern Illinois-Iowa Conference championship teams.Meet the Support StaffSTEVIE BAKER-WATSONAthletic Trainer2003-2004Season Preview“Building Traditions”Jennifer Buckley and her Aurora University Spartans havewon the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference the last three out offour years. Playing in one NCAA Tournament game and comingup one game short of making the tournament last year, theSpartans are poised for another successful campaign. “Eventhough we won the conference last year, we fell short of one ofour goals to win the conference tournament,” Buckley said.Aurora University women’s basketball has set the bar for successin this program. Each and every year the expectations riseand this year should be no different.Led this year by senior captains Tina Brooks (Streamwood,IL/Streamwood HS) and Nicki Pieart (Aurora, IL/West AuroraHS), the Spartans look to not only win the regular season titlethis year, but to take it one step further by winning the conferencetournament. “Tina, Nicki, and Heather Guetschow(Carpentersville, IL/Dundee-Crown HS) are looking to make itfour for four on winning conference titles,” said Buckley. Pieart,a senior because of a redshirt season, is two years back from anACL injury and is feeling better than ever.Last season starting all 27 games for AU, Pieart averaged 8.1points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game. Joining her in thebackcourt will be senior two-year starter Heather Guetschow.Starting over half the games last year, Guetschow averaged 2.9points per game, while handing out 2.5 assists per contest.Junior college transfer Danielle Widdop (Milan, IL/RockridgeHS) will look to come in and play a lot of minutes for theSpartans. Returning for her third season will be junior JamieBarwick (Hampshire, IL/Hampshire HS). Last season Barwickaveraged 8.7 points per game, 2.2 steals per game, and 2.1assists. Barwick will be lost until the first week of December;she is coming off of a torn ACL. Backing up Guestchow at thepoint guard position will be freshman Beth Plucinski (VernonHills, IL/Vernon Hills HS).Looking to provide quality depth at the wings will be juniorAnne Dinelli (Dwight, IL/Dwight HS), freshman HeatherMulholland (Capron, IL/North Boone HS), and freshmanMichelle Hard (Big Rock, IL/Hinckley-Big Rock HS).Senior Captain Tina Brooks returns for her senior seasonafter leading the team in scoring last season, averaging 11.9points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game. Tina not only willbe looked to carry the scoring load but also will be a strongpresence on the defensive side of the ball. Buckley is expectinga lot from freshman Laura Wiesner (Des Plaines, IL/Maine WestHS); she should look to see a lot of action this season. A strongrecruiting class will look to provide depth at the post position.Freshman Courtney Lillard (Danville, IL/Danville HS), freshmanAlison Kohler (Sandwich, IL/Sandwich HS), and freshmanKatelyn Jorstad (Ransom, IL/Dwight HS) all look to see minutesin the coming season. Sophomore Samirah Watkins (Chicago,IL/Amundsen HS), freshman Stephanie Kiger (Momence,IL/Momence HS), and freshman Caitlin Ebbinghaus(Martinsville, IL/Martinsville HS) add a deep bench that givesBuckley many options.With a talented core of veteran leaders and enthusiasticnewcomers, the lady cagers look to once again contend for theNorthern Illinois-Iowa Conference title and a berth in the 2003-2004 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championships.2 AU Women’s Basketball