2012-13 Point Park University Women’s Basketball — NAIA Division II National Tournament, AMC Champs 2011-12
SEASON OUTLOOK (continued from Page 3) The top newcomer in the post is sophomore Ja’Nia McPhatter (New Castle, Pa.), a transfer from NCAA Division III La Roche, which is just north of campus. McPhatter is a very athletic player at 5-9 who has the ability to average a double-double of points and rebounds, according to coach Grenek. She will be inserted into the starting lineup right away and needs to make up for the void left by Peterkin. Also new to the frontcourt is Anna Shaw (Mingo Junction, Ohio), a 6-0 center who is back after sitting out last season. She had good rebounding numbers in her limited playing time two years ago. The Pioneers also added freshman center Briaua Brownfield (McKeesport, Pa.), who adds depth and height at 5-11. Point Park’s post will have a few players become available after the fall sports season ends. Maeve Gallagher (Soccer), Anna Shaw (Soccer) and Ashley Campbell (Volleyball) will join the team once their seasons end. The Pioneers added a couple of freshman pieces to their backcourt with the arrival of guard Alexa Xenakis (Keystone Oaks HS), Carly Corcoran (Baldwin HS) and Erin Gilmartin (Springdale HS). Xenakis averaged 15.2 ppg as a 1,000-career point scorer at Keystone Oaks. Corcoran averaged a solid 8.6 ppg and 4.0 rpg as a starter on a good Baldwin team, and Gilmartin was a standout, all-section player at Springdale. Also a soccer player at Point Park, Gilmartin is out for the year with a knee injury she suffered this past fall. With the returning and incoming personnel, Grenek says the team should be able to score more points than last year while also playing some of the best defense in the nation once again. Point Park ranked second in the NAIA Division II last year in scoring defense at 51.6 ppg. The stingy defense was sixth nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.334), second in turnover margin (+8.2), 16th in 3-point defense (.270) and ninth in steals per game (12.6 spg). That defense was a main reason why the Pioneers were 11th in the country in scoring margin (+12.9 ppg) despite only having one double-digit scorer (April Austin, 10.8 ppg). The Pioneers averaged 64.7 ppg as a team last year.
Quotes from Coach Tony Grenek about the 2012-13 season: —“The expectations are higher this year given what we accomplished last year, and that is a very good thing. Our players are hungry and determined to get back to the NAIA Division II national tournament. But at the same time, we need to create a new identity for this year’s team. —“We were senior-laden last year and had great leadership from those players. We need to find that same veteran leadership this year to be successful.” —”We want to play the same tough defense again this year, and our goal as always is to keep teams under 60 points. There is room for improvement defensively, particularly with on-the ball pressure. Our athleticism has improved this year, which will allow us to do better in that area. Our 2-3 zone was our bread-and-butter last year, and we need to see improvement in the man.” —”We should be improved offensively and able to score more than what we averaged last year. We have some players who are more capable offensively getting more minutes than before.”
NAIA DII TOP 25 PRESEASON POLL (OCT. 23, 2012) Rnk Last 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 T8 T8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 T25 T25
3 1 2 4 6 13# 10 8 5 11 12 7 17# 13 18 20 17 15 14 16 18 NR RV 25 22 RV
School
Last Yr
Concordia (Neb.) Northwestern (Iowa) Coll. of the Ozarks (Mo.) Indiana Wesleyan Morningside (Iowa) St. Xavier (Ill.) Concordia (Mich.) Briar Cliff (Iowa) Grand View (Iowa) Eastern Oregon Jamestown (N.D.) Davenport (Mich.) Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) Corban (Ore.) Bethel (Ind.) Southwestern (Kan.) Tennessee Wesleyan Hastings (Neb.) Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) Friends (Kan.) Ave Maria (Fla.) Taylor (Ind.) Saint Mary (Neb.) Union (Ky.) College of Idaho Saint Francis (Ind.)
34-3 28-7 33-4 33-3 26-9 24-9 29-6 25-10 30-6 25-9 27-5 30-5 27-5 24-8 22-11 23-9 24-9 22-11 27-7 24-10 29-5 18-13 22-11 25-8 22-9 19-13
Pts 342 328 323 314 293 275 274 250 250 246 243 237 214 184 177 171 167 163 145 129 108 99 96 58 46 46
Others receiving votes: Valley City State (N.D.) 42; Point Park (Pa.) 41; Madonna (Mich.) 39; St. Thomas (Fla.) 38; William Penn (Iowa) 32; Cornerstone (Mich.) 20; Sterling (Kan.) 19; Purdue Calumet (Ind.) 16; Huntington (Ind.) 8; Indiana Southeast 8; Warner Pacific (Ore.) 3, Menlo (Calif.) 3; St. Ambrose (Iowa) 3. # Ranking in Final NAIA Division I Poll of 2011-12
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HEAD COACH TONY GRENEK — 2nd season (Career Record 23-7) Tony Grenek is in his second year as head coach at Point Park. He was hired in May 2011. The 2012-13 season will be his 11th year as a coach on the college level and his sixth year as a head coach. He was 23-7 in his first year at Point Park to earn AMC Coach of the Year honors. The 23 wins were the most in a single season for Point Park. He now stands in 5th place of the 16 coaches in Pioneers history for most career wins. Prior to Point Park, Grenek was the top women’s assistant at NCAA Division II Seton Hill for five years from 2005-10. There, he was mainly responsible for running the team’s defense and make the calls defensively. He helped the Griffins to the NCAA DII national tournament in 2009 -10, their second season eligible for the tourney. Seton Hill led the WVIAC in scoring defense that year (60.0). Grenek was the head men’s coach at Butler Co. CC for five years from 2001-05. There he was named Western PA Coach of the Year in 2004-05 after rebuilding the non-scholarship program that had little interest. His teams made the Region 20 playoffs all five years and were 35-19 in final two years there. Grenek earned a bachelor’s degree in General Sociology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and a bachelor’s
degree in Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University in 1998.