Matthew Schwanke
Mount St. Mary’s women’s basketball team looks to improve in their second season in the MAAC after going 8-12 in conference their first time around.
After graduating one of the all-time great Mount basketball players in Michaela Harrison, the Mount looks to add both experience and volume scoring in their 2023-24 class. MSMU brought in five upper class students, four of which are graduate transfers. They also brought in two first year students to round out the class.
Returners such as Jo Raflo, Isabella Hunt, and Jessica Tomasetti look to lead the way as they have the most experience in minutes in the MAAC on the team. Of the Mount players, according to coaches in the MAAC, Tomasetti is predicted to have the best season as she was selected to the All-MAAC Third Team. She was the only Mountaineer to achieve all-team status this pre-season.
Coach Antoine White said that he expects quality from a lot of his new players, especially Maddie Novak, a graduate student from Stetson University. She ranks in the Top-10 three-point shooters in the university's history and will be a key for the Mount outside the ark. Another great asset to the Mount this season is JUCO transfer Rosa Revueltas. “She’s a really good playmaker, dynamic with the basketball in her hands. Unfortunately, she is battling a pretty bad sprained ankle, so we probably won't have her for the first couple games, but when we get her back, she's going to have a lot of oohs and ahhs in the gym for sure.” White stated.
The team has been predicted by the coaches poll to finish in 8th place, with no votes for first place. This comes after being predicted to finish 8th last year and fulfilling that prediction by it coming to fruition.
After many conversations with different players, there is an air of excitement around this year’s team. They have discussed the experience of the team as being critical to their success, but also highlighted some of the younger players as ones to watch. “The goal like always is to win the championship right. But we are far away from March. There is so much work that we have to get in before we even start to think about March basketball.” said White.
The Mount opens their season on Nov. 11 against Howard on the road. They follow that up against Navy six days later in Annapolis. They finally get their first game on Nov. 18 against Cornell. After that it is back on the road for three more games before finally coming back home to Emmitsburg to play Bucknell on Dec. 5 and George Mason on Dec. 9. The Mountaineers biggest non-conference game is against Texas Christian University on Dec. 22.
This year’s Catholic Clash takes place on Dec. 2 at 12 p.m. in Baltimore. The team has played Loyola 28 times, with the Mountaineers coming up successful in 15 of them. Mount St. Mary’s has been the winners of four of the last five, with last year’s game ending in a victory for the Mount, 73-66. The Mount’s first conference game is at home against Siena on Dec. 18 Full time play in the conference begins against Canisius on Jan. 4 on the road.
