Without a football team, Warrior fans look for a team that can help them show their spirit, with body paint or morph suits, and it seems that they have chosen the basketball programs to do just that. While the women’s team was one game shy of the playoffs last year, the men’s team made a historic run into the Division II Sweet Sixteen. But, this season shows even more promise and excitement for both the teams and the fans.
“I feel that this year will be exciting for us,” Coach Wayman Strickland said. “It’s another step in the process of us developing a very, very good women’s basketball program here.” The women’s team will be returning senior Briana Cotton (69 REB, 310 pts), but also returning strong underclassmen Riley Holladay (143 REB, 208 pts), Ana Burch (113 REB, 243 Pts) and Jasmine Washington (89 REB, 284 pts). However, Coach Strickland also expressed his excitement over another recruiting class, including two 6-foot-2 freshmen (one redshirt), Emilee VanDyke and Erika Larsen.
“I believe we’ll be the youngest team in conference, so hopefully we’ll be able to play with a little more maturity this year, and we can take that next jump from 13 wins to maybe 16 or 17 wins,” Coach Strickland said.
The women’s basketball season starts on Nov. 14 in Stockton at an exhibition match against the University of the Pacific; their first conference match will not be until Dec. 5 against Cal State LA.
“We’re in a tough, tough conference for women’s basketball, and there are no freebies in our league,” Coach Strickland said to sum up the hard work the women’s basketball team will have ahead of them if they hope to make the conference tournament.
The men’s team, however, became the first basketball team in school history to advance to the NCAA Division II tournament before a heartbreaking end in the Sweet Sixteen. The loss to Chico State also marked the end of several promising collegiate careers for the team’s seniors, leaving some pretty big shoes to fill.
“I think the key for us is that we have 8 or 9 returning players that have all had a pretty good playing time and experience,” Coach Reynolds said. “So we’ll have to rely on that a lot because we’re losing three very good players that were an essential part into our deep run into the playoffs last year.”
Some of those returning players include a large senior class of Shey Mataele (6’2, 224 pts), Brian Lopez (6’0, 13 pts), Clinton Tremelling (6’1, 169 pts), Chris Read (6’4, 422 pts), Tyler Barber (6’6, 124 pts), Rob Walters (6’7, 262 pts) and Wes Bartole (6’5, injured).
“We’ll have some making up to do, but I think with our veterans coming back we’ll be okay,” Coach Reynolds said. Reynolds has also added a four-team freshman recruiting class that ranges from 6-foot-2 Christian Bayne to 6-foot-8 Kyle Gouveia.
The men’s basketball season started with a win on Nov. 7 against Bristol University of Anaheim, where Chris Read lead the team with 21 points and Wes Bartole made his season debut after a year-long injury and recovery process, which kept him out of last year’s historic season. The men’s team will kick off their conference play on Dec. 5 against Cal State LA.