With eight new players and seven veterans, Otterbein women’s basketball looks forward to another successful season.
After a season full of injuries, the women’s basketball team is looking to win the Ohio Athletic Association (OAC) and hopefully make it to the NCAA tournament.
The Cardinals had a previous winning season along with being 12-6 in conference games. In the OAC semifinal, they fell short by one point in the last few seconds against Ohio Northern University after leading throughout the second half.
Diana Noles is going into her 5th year of coaching the Cardinals. She is an Otterbein alumni and is the program’s career leader in assists.
Entering the new season, Noles said, “you can see our upperclassman doing a great job and are really invested in our philosophies in making sure the younger women know what we expect and setting the tone for the newcomers.”
Starting with one of the three returning seniors, Katie McCray a guard on the team. She was among the team that was named 2021 OAC freshman of the year. McCray was named top five in the league for scoring (13.1), assists (3.3), and steals (2.2) per game during her sophomore season. With a strong freshman and sophomore year she spent her junior year with a hand injury but was still awarded with second place at OAC.
Senior guard, Claire Radabaugh looks to return as a starter for the Cardinals. This past 2022-23 season she scored 135 points while also having an injury during the season.
Another returning senior, point guard, Olivia Majors started all 27 games of her junior season, and scored a total of 226 points throughout the 2022-23 season.
More returners including sophomore Natalie Allen and junior Maizie King are said to be promising players who can get the Cardinals up in rankings this year.
The Cardinals are welcoming eight new players to their roster which includes six freshmen and two transfers. Noles said, “we have a great new group of freshmen and know we are going to be playing some younger kids.”
They will start their season off on Friday, November 10th versus Kenyon at the Lauren Hill Tip-Off Classic. However, their first home game will be on December 16 at 1 p.m. against Baldwin Wallace.
