Women’s Basketball
The Bluffton University women’s basketball team is coming off of a strong season last year and will look to keep its place close to the top of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Last season, the women finished with a 20-7 record overall, going 14-4 in the HCAC. The Beavers finished the season on a five-game winning streak.
This year, Bluffton was picked to finish fourth in the HCAC, with Rose-Hulman, Transylvania and Hanover finishing ahead of the Beavers.
The big question for Head Coach Chad Shutler coming into this season is who will fill the shoes left by last year’s graduating seniors, Macy Sheerer (Bucyrus, Ohio / Bucyrus) and Kaycee Rowe (Harrod, Ohio / Allen East).
Sheerer stands as the all-time leading scorer for the Bluffton University Women’s basketball program with 1,393 points. Kaycee Rowe finished third on the scoring list with 1,178 points. Not only did Sheerer finish her career with the scoring record, she was named to a record-high third-straight First Team All-HCAC honor. Rowe was also named on the First Team All-HCAC and to the Third Team All-Great Lakes region by d3hoops.com.
With only one senior and three incoming freshman, this year’s team is primarily sophomores and juniors. Junior point-guard TJ Mills (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) will continue to be a key player this season. Mills averaged 10.8 points per game (PPG) last season and also added 97 assists to complete the 2017-18 season. She was named Honorable Mention All-HCAC last season after winning Freshman of the Year two seasons ago.
Junior Breanna Graham and sophomore Nora Hemminger will also look to fill the void left by last year’s seniors. Graham finished the year averaging 6.3 PPG and a 32.4 three-point percentage. Hemminger averaged 4.7 PPG and a 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.
The 2018-19 Bluffton University women’s basketball team will open their home campaign in three weeks as they host the John Carroll University Blue Streaks on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. Tyler Avila and Floid Krajcovic will provide live play-by-play and color commentary on 96.1 The Wit.
Men’s Basketball
The Bluffton University men’s basketball team will look to move on from the loss of Kevin Christie and Andrew Hunter to graduation while bringing in 11 new faces to mesh with the rest of this returning Beaver squad.
Last year, Bluffton finished 11-15 overall and 8-10 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC). This year, Bluffton was picked to finish seventh in the HCAC, beating out Earlham, Defiance and Manchester.
Entering his 30th year as the head coach for the men’s basketball team, Guy Neal will look to rely on his upperclassmen this season.
Some of these upperclassmen will be key players to watch out for.
Seniors Justis Dowdy (Van Wert, Ohio / Lincolnview), who averaged 6.6 points per game (PPG) and Jared Wentling (Carey, Ohio / Carey), who only played in nine games last season before coming down with an injury that kept him off the court the rest of the year, will look to lead this 2018-19 squad.
They will not be alone as they will have help from junior guard Andrew Renner (Cairo, Ohio / Bath). Renner was the second leading scorer for the Beavers last season with 11.7 PPG just behind graduated senior, Christie with 17.7 PPG.
Dowdy and Renner were named team captains of this year’s team.
The 2018-19 Bluffton University men’s basketball team will open its home campaign in two weeks as they will play host to the Hiram College Terriers on Wednesday, Nov. 21. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. Tyler Avila and Floid Krajcovic will bring you live play-by-play and color commentary on 96.1 The Wit.
James Hudson contributed to this report.
