Women's basketball starts strong

The Norwich University women's basketball team has jumped out to an early start with an 5-2 record. The lady Cadets have beaten Plattsburgh State, Bay Path, Middlebury, Lyndon State and Maine Machias.

The lady Cadets only loss was to non-conference foes Trinity College and Bates College.

The Cadets, who participate in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), were picked to finish third in the conference preseason poll, according to www.thegnac.com.

Allyson Daniels, a 21-year-old senior biology major from Concord, N.H., said, "I feel the start of our season has gone very well; although we haven't played many quality teams so far, it is still good practice."

Tara Stevenson, a 19-year-old sophomore biology major from Watertown, Conn., said, "Our season has started off with a bang; we are all excited to be back on the court and playing again."

Christine Daniels, Allyson's younger sister and a 20-year-old junior from Concord, N.H., said. "We are (4-1) but we are still making rookie mistakes. We are off to a good start, but we still can improve."

The lady Cadets seems to be on the same page about the start of the season. They are optimistic about what this year will bring.

The team's only blemish so far is to Trinity College (Conn.). "We took a tough loss to Trinity; we just want to move forward because we have the potential to be great," said Christine Daniels.

"Our only loss was against Trinity, and we didn't come ready to play, and we all know it," Stevenson said.

The Cadets have a good team relationship on and off the court.

"Team chemistry is awesome; everyone loves each other on this team, we always have each other backs," said Stevenson.

"Our team chemistry is good but I still think it could be a lot better, we try to push aside our personal life issues," said Christine Daniels.

Allyson Daniels said, " We are way more experienced this year and we only lost two girls from last year."

The players have set the bar high for themselves with many goals to achieve. Kelsey Knapp, a 19-year-old sophomore criminal justice major from Brandon, Vt., said, "We want to win our conference, regular season title and tournament and have a chance to go to NCAA's."

Laurel McWilliams, a 21-year-old senior international studies major from Swanton, Vt., said, "We want to beat Emanuel each year and have a successful season."

"We want to beat every team we play on any given night," said Knapp.