The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Storm feature new lineup and coach
LEC women seek fresh start this year
Brooklyn Kohlheim understands the challenges she’ll face this season in her head-coaching debut with the Lake Erie College women’s team.
The Storm will have to weather the losses to graduation of high-scoring guard Kayla Gabor and center Christine Dawson, both former Mentor High School standouts.
Gabor averaged 19.3 points per game last season and is the leading scorer in program history with 1,823 career points. Dawson averaged 10.9 points and a team-high 9.4 rebounds as a senior.
LEC finished 13-16 overall last season and 9-13 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. In the G-MAC preseason poll for the 201819 season, the Storm was picked to finish 10th in the 14-team conference.
“I’m perfectly OK with that,” Kohlheim said of the preseason poll. “Nobody knows who we are and what we’re trying to implement.”
The 2017-18 season was a trying one off the court for LEC players. Longtime head coach Bob Booher was fired in late January after 12-plus seasons for a what a university spokeswoman said was “an unspecified violation of the employee handbook.”
Graduate assistant coach Sarah Bonar replaced Booher as interim coach. Kohlheim was hired in late March. She has 10 years experience as an assistant coach at the Division II level, most recently at Michigan Tech.
Kohlheim said she and her assistant coaches are determined to put last season’s disruptions in this team’s rear-view mirror. They are aiming for a fresh start with a rotation anchored by junior guards Josie Chaddock (10.9 points per game last season) and Farrah Benner (7.6 points).
The other probable starters are junior guard and Cornerstone Christian product Ashley West (6.0 points, 5.0 rebounds), 6-foot-1 senior center Sophie Sonneman (4.4 points, 3.0 rebounds) and 6-foot sophomore forward Breanna Bauer (2.9 points, 1.7 rebounds).
Reserves include senior guard Megyn Christensen, senior post Paige Tranchida, sophomore guard Alexis Todd and freshmen guards Madison Mattimore, Elaine Billing, Sydney Voss and Emma Gurley (Gilmour).
“I love how they these players want to be good,” Kohlheim said. “They don’t necessarily know what that entails, but the desire is there. When you challenge them, they buy in.”
Kohlheim said the system utilizes a motion offense and man-to-man defense.