Women's College Basketball: CLC coach has more depth for second season

Cassie Carey begins her second season as head coach when the Central Lakes College Raiders host Ridgewater at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

With very little recruiting time last year, Carey sometimes had only one bench player. While growing her CLC basketball family, Carey also welcomed an addition to her family during the off-season.

"We are excited to start our season," she said. "With the new addition to our Carey family - Aiden, who's now just over three months old - we were trying to figure out how things would work with juggling family, work, and basketball. But at this point, the ladies have been working hard and things are starting to come together regarding learning one another's strengths and weaknesses.

"The year's worth of recruiting was wonderful getting to know kids and their families. We are excited with the student-athletes who have committed to play this year. A large group of kids we recruited have many college credits, and although they may have interest in playing, some only need a semester's worth of school before they have an (Associate in Arts) degree."

While last year's Raiders played well on defense, the fatigue showed mostly on offense as the team struggled to find a consistent scoring punch. They fought through that and finished with four division wins and an overall record of 6-19.

The Raiders were competitive in most games including a strong showing at home against the Northland Pioneers who finished last season with a 14-0 record. The Raiders trailed by single digits at the end of the first half before running out of gas in the second but the game was close until the end.

Carey has been busy recruiting in the off-season and will have eight or nine players this season on a team with two returning players - Kelly Pearson and Mackenzie Holst. Pearson provided scoring punch and was named to the all-state second team. Holst was strong from the free-throw line as she finished with a .815 percentage which was tops in the Northern Division.

"It's great having leaders who know your system, and know drills that we have run in the past," Carey said. "It's been helpful to not be teaching brand new concepts for every single student-athlete. Kelly and Mackenzie were our top two leading scorers last year, and we are excited to have them on board again. I am looking forward to seeing how things will transpire with having a few extras on our team this year."

The two also are part of a strong representation from Staples-Motley High School which now also includes freshman Kaitlyn Spar.

It will be a tough road for the Raiders to move up in the division. Northland finished 14-0 but was upset by Northern Division third-place finisher Mesabi 77-75 in the Region 13B championship game. Hibbing finished second with a division record of 10-4.

In the pre-season poll, the Pioneers from Northland are ranked No. 2 with Mesabi also receiving votes.

While there were question marks about the team last year as Carey inherited a program that had taken a year off from competition, she starts her second season looking to put her stamp on this team.

"Our coaching staff and our student-athletes developed some core values and standards for ourselves. The girls chose 'Respect' as one of the top expectations. This includes respect for self, teammates, coaching staff, as well as their professors and classmates," Carey said. "They indicated that being early for practices, team travel, and classes is a high priority.

"As a coach, I have indicated that I need whatever their 100 percent is for that day. If at the end of the day they can all look at one another and to me, and know in their hearts that they left it all on the court that day, that's all I can ask for."

Raiders roster

Cheyanne Johnson, 5-6, freshman, Barnum

Mackenzie Holst, 5-7, sophomore, Staples

Kaitlyn Spar, 6-0, freshman, Staples

Inmyah Sartin-Greer, 5-3, freshman, Tavernier, Fla.

Mickey Guenther, 5-3, freshman, Hopkins

Kelly Pearson, 5-9, sophomore, Staples

Amber Petermann, 5-9, freshman, Detroit Lakes

Marka Baker, 5-9, freshman, Malta, ID

Raiders schedule

Nov. 11, Ridgewater 5 p.m.

Nov. 14, Leech Lake Tribal College 1 p.m.

Nov 20, at United Tribes, Bismarck, N.D., 5 p.m.

Nov 21, at Bismarck State College noon

Nov 28, Leech Lake Tribal at Cass Lake 1 p.m.

Dec 4, at MSCTC Fergus Falls 6 p.m.

Dec 5, at St. Cloud Technical College 1 p.m.

Dec 11, Rochester 6 p.m.

Dec 12, Western Technical College 1 p.m.

Dec 18-19, CLC Winter Invitational: St. Cloud Technical College, MSCTC Fergus Falls, Rainy River CTC

Jan 2-3, CLC Winter Classic: Vermilion, Riverland, MN West

Jan 8, Fond Du Lac 6 p.m.

Jan 9, Itasca at Grand Rapids 1 p.m.

Jan 13, Vermilion 6 p.m.

Jan 16, Mesabi 1 p.m.

Jan 22, Rainy River at International Falls 6 p.m.

Jan 23, at Hibbing 1 p.m.

Jan 27, Northland at Thief River Falls 6 p.m.

Jan 30, Rainy River 1 p.m.

Feb 3, Mesabi at Virginia 6 p.m.

Feb 6, Vermilion at Ely 1 p.m.

Feb 10, Itasca 6 p.m.

Feb 13, Northland 1 p.m.

Feb 17, Fond Du Lac at Cloquet 6 p.m.

Feb 20, Hibbing 1 p.m.

Feb. 26-28, MCAC/Region 13 at Anoka-Ramsey