Season Snap Shot
2011-12 Season Review: After putting his first year as the head coach at Hilbert College under his belt, Rob Peterson and staff were ready to face any second-year challenges. The staff increased the roster number and improved the talent level of the players through their first recruiting cycle as they readied for their sophomore year. By the end of the season, Hilbert grabbed two Allegheny Mountain Collegiate wins, a first since the 2006-07 season.
Hilbert opened the season November 15th with a road loss at Wells College before they returned to Western NY to participate in the Betty Abgott Invitational Tournament hosted by Buffalo State College. The Hawks squared off against the host school and then had to battle Hamilton College in the consolation game. In the week before Thanksgiving, Hilbert traveled to Keuka College before hosting Alfred University in the first of several non-conference double headers with the Hilbert men’s team. After the Thanksgiving break, Cazenovia snuck away with a 47-46 home win over Hilbert before the Hawks began their AMCC slate of games. Hilbert went 0-3 against La Roche, Penn State Behrend and Greensburg in December and took a break from organized practices while the team enjoyed their families during the holiday.
With sixteen games remaining on their schedule, coach Peterson prepared his Hawks for the intense portion of the season’s schedule. As games are played on Wednesday nights and Saturday afternoons, the Hawks were always on the run. They opened in January against Medaille before they captured their first AMCC win in four years with a 67-54 road victory at Franciscan. Just two games later, the confidence after their first win carried them into a 68-59 triumph at D’Youville College. Hilbert took three straight losses (two at home, one on the road) before they hosted the College of New Rochelle in a rematch from last year’s first meeting. The Hawks repeated the previous year’s results taking a 59-48 win on January 22. Hilbert played through the remainder of the AMCC schedule dropping three road games and four home contests.
The Hawks improved statistically as the year progressed. During the fall semester portion of their schedule, against predominantly non-conference opponents, Hilbert averaged 40 points per game. After the two week Christmas holiday break, the Hawks returned to action and improved their offensive output by almost six points per game the rest of the season. Comparatively, Hilbert raised their scoring average by five points per game and held opponents to two fewer points per game than one season ago.
Three players started all 25 games for Hilbert over the course of the season. Senior Julie Bossard averaged 6.1 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per contest as she pushed her career totals to 734 points, 685 rebounds and 175 blocked shots. Freshman Sarah Lorusso stepped into a starting role and averaged almost 3 assists in her 29 minutes per game. Another freshman, Jenah Labuski, averaged 8.2 points, many from behind the arc, and 6.2 rebounds per game. The team’s leading scorer was Natalie Whitman who transferred to the Hamburg campus at the semester break. In her 16 games played, the sophomore averaged 11.5 points and team leading 8.3 rebounds per contest. Tiana Cheasman averaged 30 minutes per game, led the Hawks with 39 steals and averaged 6.5 ppg and 4.3 rpg during her first year of collegiate play.
Three players earned double-doubles this season with Cheasman credited midway through the season against Mount Aloysius with 15 points/13 rebounds. Labuski produced her first of three against Cazenovia (17 points/11 rebounds) and hit D’Youville up both games this year after scoring 20 and 11 points combined with 12 and 10 rebounds. Whitman accomplished the feat three times as well after she settled into the Hawk’s style of play. She netted 17 points and garnered 14 rebounds against D’Youville before she grabbed 18 rebounds and scored 12 points against Bradford and scored 19 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in the team’s final game of the season against Altoona. Five different players shared high-scoring honors during the year. Bossard and Whitman each led six times, while Labuski (five), Cheasman (four) and Lorusso (three) stepped in when needed to carry the team.
With the expected return of several seasoned players, coach Peterson and his staff anticipate the 2012 incoming freshman to complement the team’s efforts of working towards qualifying for the AMCC play-offs.