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Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Mike Miller TAKING IT TO THE RACK: First Year guard Danielle Hubenak drives the lane in last Saturday's loss to George Fox (Ore.) in the Trinity Thanksgiving Classic. The loss was the first of the season, and the team now has a 4-1 record.

The women's basketball team jumped out to a 4-1 record and looks to continue the winning trend as it begins SCAC play this weekend.
The Tigers hosted the Trinity University Tip-Off Classic, winning the tournament and starting 3-0 against South Region schools. The team then went 1-1 at the Trinity University Thanksgiving Classic, losing a heartbreaker to George Fox University (Ore.) 55-53.
When practice started a month ago only seven players were cleared to play, with various health problems plaguing several athletes. The early wins bode well for the Tigers as Wednesday signaled the first day all 13 members were cleared by the trainers to practice.
"It's really early to tell but we're looking at [the wins] as a positive sign," said post Krista Prato Matthews, junior.
Last year's 17-8 squad started off the year 0-2, adding pressure to a team that hadn't lost its first two games since the 2001-2002 season. Included in that record was a first-round upset in the SCAC tournament which prevented the Tigers from advancing to the NCAA playoffs for a third consecutive year.
Trinity lost four seniors from last year's team, including this season's Graduate Assistant Lauren Andrews who averaged 30 minutes per game and led the team in free throws made per game with 3.2 while averaging 9.6 points and 2.2 steals.
Beth Hannon, Jennifer Wieman and starter Kate Dawson also graduated.
Four other players left the team this season for various reasons, including Senior Leda McDaniel, who appeared in 19 games last season and was the team assist leader two years ago.
Sophomore Carlee Culver is also absent from this year's squad after leading the team in free throw percentage and scoring a team second-best 28 points in a game to cap off a tremendous freshman season.
The loss of these eight players is partially countered by the introduction of six first year players. Two of them, forward Megan D'Errico and guard Danielle Hubenak, are on the starting lineup.

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