Lady Charger Basketball Ready to Begin New Season

DONALDSON, IN – The Ancilla College women’s basketball team is returning two key players, as they gear up for a promising 2014-2015 season. They look to have a successful team and season, led by two new coaches.

This past March, Tom Robbins was named as head coach for the Lady Chargers. Robbins has spent the last thirteen years in various coaching positions in the North Miami School District and at Wabash High School. Most recently, Robbins was employed as the assistant coach for the Ancilla College men’s basketball team. Robbins brought in Vanessa Wiley as his assistant coach. Wiley has a long and successful history as a basketball player. While completing her education at Indiana Tech and Taylor of Fort Wayne, Wiley was a member of the women’s basketball team for each respective program. Wiley was also a State Champion at her high school, South Bend Washington, in 2007.

Returning Lady Chargers include Emily Gamblin and Taylor Kuhnle. “Emily [Gamblin] exhibits the drive and work ethic that we want to instill in our players as a whole. She will be asked to lead by example and show her positive attitude in hopes of pushing the younger players to succeed. Her attitude is one we want to build on for future teams,” commented Coach Robbins. Taylor Kuhnle also for her sophomore year and will be asked to changed positions this year. According to Coach Robbins, “As a freshman, Taylor [Kuhnle] was primarily a post player and we are looking for her to move to a perimeter position, where she can provide greater size for the position, as well as utilize her shooting and finishing abilities.”

Joining the sophomores are fifteen incoming freshmen. Three freshmen come from Elkhart and are led by standout Khadijah Moore. “Khadijah [Moore] is a player who can play and defend all five positions on the floor. She is a natural scorer and tremendously athletic defender,” stated Coach Robbins.  Alexis Williams and Michelle Detwiler also come from Elkhart. “Alexis [Williams] is a tenacious defender and someone we will rely on at the point guard position. She has really good size for the position with natural ball-handling skills and the ability to score,” Coach Robbins pointed out.  He also noted, “Michelle [Detwiler] may be the best defender on the team. She has really good length, speed, and athleticism. Michelle [Detwiler] combines all of those characteristics with a desire to stop the other team from scoring.

Coming from South Bend is Teshylia Peters and Danije Sylvester. Unfortunately, Peters will be out for this season, due to an injury. At 6’2’’, Coach Robbins is confident Sylvester will be a big asset to the team inside.  “Danije has great size paired with an eager to please attitude, which makes her easy to coach. This will allow us to fulfill her tremendous potential,” he said.

In response to his first season as head coach, Robbins expressed his thoughts, “I am very excited about my first season as head coach of the Ancilla College women’s program. This is also my first foray into college competition. Each year and level presents new challenges and I am thrilled to encounter the ones ahead for this season.” The Charger coach continued, “Despite only returning two players from last year, each will contribute to the success of the team. I also believe these players, as well as the freshmen will lead us to a successful season and create a legacy for future players from their region.”

Regarding the upcoming schedule, Robbins stated, “We have a number of challenges, as we look ahead. In the early part of the season we have Illinois Central coming to town. They were ranked in the top ten last year for NJCAA DII and are known to have a top program at that level. In the conference season, we have the task of playing the top two programs in the last number of years; Kalamazoo Valley and Lake Michigan. These two opponents account for four of our games and will be opportunities for us to get into the upper part of the conference.”

This year’s schedule will consist of 29 games, sixteen of which are Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) conference contests. The Lady Chargers will take on Ancilla Alumni at the Lifeplex, on Saturday, October 11 at 3:30 p.m. Their first game is scheduled for November 1, against Indiana Institute of Technology JV. The Chargers will host this event, a double-header for the women’s and men’s teams, as tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Ancilla College, part of The Center at Donaldson, offers 18 Associate’s Degree and eight athletic programs. Since 1937, the College has been a sponsored ministry of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ and is located two miles south of US 30 on Union Road near Plymouth, Indiana.