Having a Rave-up of a Season at St. Thomas More
by Andrea Freud
(posted 12-18-09)
Allison Lonchar (JV team) will go to all lengths to get a rebound.
The Ravens are lead by a trio of experienced and athletic seniors. Starting with last year's leading scorer, Emily Darling, a 3-point shooting guard. She was 2nd team all-conference last year. Emily also excels in field hockey. Next is Kaitlin LeBlanc who is our prime point guard. Kaitlin has been a 1st team all state soccer player and is as tough as nails. She had a great game last night (12-16-09) against WC. Our third senior is Karen Wearden, our center and force to be reckoned with in the paint. She is a true baller and is always working to improve her game. Her dad James is the head women's basketball coach at Wesley College here in Dover and formerly coached Seaford High to a berth in the championship.
Senior, Kaitlin LeBlanc
We have 3 juniors lead by 3 year varsity player Liz Freud, who was the team's second leading scorer last year as a sophomore and made 2nd team all-conference. Liz plays AAU ball with the Wilmington Tigers 16U team lead by top coach, John Kulesza.
Junior, Liz Freud
Rounding our the starting 5 is second year starter sophomore Christine Petrosky. Christine can play point or the 2-guard position and is a threat from the 3-point line. In our 1st round tournament game against Smyrna HS, Christine hit a half court shot at the buzzer to bring STMP within 2 points. From the bench, we have 2 sophomores who saw limited time on varsity last year but who should be major players this year. First is post player Lauren Curlett who scored 10 points last night. Equally impressive is guard Christine Eliassen who is a speedster and is unafraid to mix it up when necessary. She is a top soccer player and was 3rd team all-state soccer as a freshman this past spring.
Sophomores, Christine Petrosky & Christine Eliassen
The team is rounded out by 3 juniors Meghan McGloin, Kate Huffman & Katie Price who should all get quality minutes in relief and play bigger roles next season when our 4 seniors move on. We also have 2 sophomores and a freshman who play both varsity and JV but who will be contributing mostly on JV. All 3 have promising varsity futures, they are: Stephanie "Pip" Sels, Jessica Wearden (Karen's sister) and freshman Cali Echiverri.
Sophs, Stephanie Sels
In our first game we played Delmarva Christian. Unfortunately for the Royals, their senior 1st team all-conference player, Emily Petoney, was sidelined with an injury. We were able to stop their other scorer, senior and 3-point specialist, Keina Harmon, and defeat them 47-23. The Ravens had a 19-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and Coach LaPenta was able to give his entire bench plenty of playing time. High scorer for the game was Liz with 10 points. Emily Darling also had a good night with 10 or 12 points.
In our second game we played against Campus Community School ("CCS") and easily defeated them 34-7. Our starters out scored them 27-0. Liz had 10 points and Emily had 8 to 10. Again Coach LaPenta was able to play the bench 4 minutes in the first quarter and the entire 2nd and 4th quarters. On thing stood out with this game; mercifully, CCS has moved their home games from their miserable little gym to the William Henry Middle School gym which is regulation sized and has plenty of room for spectators.
In our third game, coach played his bench, but this time, not because we had a big lead, but rather out of necessity when his two starting post players got into early foul trouble and his leading scorer went down with an ankle injury. Luckily for the Ravens, the bench performed superbly and picked up the slack and were able to contribute in a big way to our 3rd conference win against Wilmington Christian.
Next up for the Ravens is a match tomorrow night in our Christmas tournament against Moyer Academy. On Saturday we will play either Polytech or Sussex Central in the tournament. Then we get a well deserved rest from 5 games and finals to recharge for the meat of the schedule starting in January. The Ravens will face some formidable opponents including perennial tournament contenders Ursuline, St. Marks and Archmere. We also have big non conference games against Cape Henlopen and Tower Hill. It should be a fun season for the Ravens and if we can stay healthy hopefully we'll earn another berth in the State Tournament in March!
Kaitlin LeBlanc advances the ball in the Wilmington Christian game.
Emily Darling pressures the Delmarva Christian ballhandler while Liz Freud and Christine Petrosky get ready to help.
Freshman JV player, Mary Mannion
Freshman JV player, Elizabeth Biddle
All photos courtesy Andrea Freud.