Going into the 1996-97 season, the Mount Vernon Nazarene College women's basketball team was beginning a new chapter in the Lady Cougars' history. Head coach Eric Ely was entering his inaugral year as a collegiate head coach. In addition, MVNC had no seniors listed on their roster and six new faces had joined the program.
Despite starting three or even four freshmen every game, the Lady Cougars improved from 10-19 a year ago to 12-18 this season. MVNC was in every game as eight of their losses were by ten points or less. "We were one of the top defensive teams in the Mid-Ohio Conference," said Ely. "This team did a good job of not folding if we got down by 15 or 20 points. We showed that we could come back from double digit deficits."
The Lady Cougars began their season with a 3-4 mark against non-conference teams that included victories over Notre Dame College and Wilberforce University as MVNC won its second straight Wazie Shootout title. Freshman Shelly Aldrich was named the tournament's most valuable player and junior Krystal Wright joined her on the all-tournament team.
As December rolled around, so did the beginning of the rugged MOC schedule. In 1995-96, the Lady Cougars had posted a 3-15 conference mark and finished ninth. However, this time around the team compiled an 8-10 mark and finished seventh. The eight wins tied the school record for most conference victories in a season.
One of the highlights of the conference schedule came in February when the team traveled to the University of Rio Grande. In all the previous trips to Rio Grande, MVNC had only been able to come away with one victory. However, on this night, the Lady Cougars prevailed 85-81 over the Redwomen (18-10). Freshman Amber Rice, making the first start of her collegiate career, led the way with 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
MVNC finished the regular season with a 68-56 victory at Malone College that saw freshman Anne Nussbaum score a career-high 13 points and grab a career-high nine rebounds. That gave the Lady Cougars the sixth seed in the MOC Division II Tournament.
The team traveled to Urbana University for their first round game in the tournament. The third-seeded Lady Blue Knights had swept thre regular-season series between the two teams, but both games had been close. After MVNC took a 6-5 lead early in the game, Urbana regained control and led by as many as 17 points twice including 47-30 with just under 12 minutes left in the game.
However, the Lady Cougars came roaring back as they finished the game on a 25-7 run to upset the Lady Blue Knights 55-54. Aldrich hit the winning basket with eight seconds remaining to complete the exciting comeback. Sophomore Tara Seiter led the team with a game-high 23 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
With the victory, MVNC moved on to the semi-finals of the MOC Tournament for the first time ever as the Lady Cougars traveled to the University of Findlay. After trailing by as many as 24 points, MVNC closed the gap as they fell 78-62 to end their season. Rice finished with a team-high 17 points, while Seiter grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
Individually, several players had outstanding seasons. Seiter led the team in scoring (17.1 points per game), rebounding (10.4 rebounds per game), and field goal percentage (52.6 percent). She also set school records for free throws made (106) and attempted (157) in a season. In addition, she moved into tenth place on the Lady Cougars' all-time scoring list with 835 points in only two seasons. For her efforts, she was named to the MOC First Team and the NCCAA District I First Team.
Freshman Amie Bibby also contributed heavily in her first season. She started in 25 games and averaged 9.8 points per contest. She led the team in blocked shots (30) and steals (80). She also nailed 25 three-pointers and set a school record with 10 steals in a win over Malone. She received honorable mention in the MOC and was named to the NCCAA District I Second Team.
Aldrich also recorded a great season as the Lady Cougars' starting point guard. She started all but one game and averaged 10.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. She led the team with 83 assists and canned 23 treys.
Wright put together the best season of her career so far as she averaged 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. She started 20 games, but finished the year coming off the bench and excelling in that role with several double figure scoring games.
Rice finished her first year averaging 6.7 points per game with 41 assists and a team-leading 37 three-pointers. However, once she joined the starting lineup, she averaged 15.8 points per game over the final six games of the season. She also led the team by shooting 89 percent from the free throw line and 39 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
Juniors Dawn Paulo (2.3 points per game) and Beth Poland (4.4 points per game) each provided leadership for this young team. Both players exhibited great attitudes in whatever role they were used in, and the set an example of hard-work for the younger players to follow.
Freshman Anne Nussbaum saw action in 26 games including five starts. She averaged 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds per contest while dishing out 22 assists. She was a sparkplug off the bench defensively, and she played a key role in the victories over Rio Grande and Urbana.
As a team, MVNC set new records for free throws made (388) and attempted (580) in a season while shooting 67 percent from the charity stripe.
With no seniors graduating from this team, the future looks bright for the Lady Cougars. "If the kids will work as hard next year as they have this year, we should do even better," said Ely. "Hopefully, we can add some more size to give us more depth on the inside. Seeing how we improved toward the end of the season, I can only be optimistic about the future."