Following their loss in the GLIAC tournament semifinals last year, Ferris State women’s basketball looks to return even stronger.
After finishing last season with a 17-12 record, a healthy and hungry bulldogs squad full of returning faces looks to improve on last year. return to the NCAA Tournament and add some hardware.
The Bulldogs start the season with high expectations, being picked as the second favorite to win the GLIAC Conference. The team received 72 total points and one first-place vote in the GLIAC preseason poll. Ferris only trailed their arch-rival, Grand Valley, whose program received 81 total points and other nine first place votes. The Bulldogs are also ranked 20th in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s top 25 preseason poll, which ranks all DII women’s basketball programs.
A reason for these high expectations is that most of last year’s roster is set to return including the team’s leading scorer and GLIAC preseason player of the year forward Chloe Idoni. Entering her senior year, Idoni is as hungry as ever.
“My goals for this year, as a team, is to work together to do things that Ferris State has never done and for this team to take this program to a new level.” Idoni said. “We have a very talented squad and when we put the pieces together, we can do big things and win championships.”
Idoni averaged 19 points a game last season while shooting 48.8% on field goal attempts.
These hungry Bulldogs’ goals are more than upholding the winning culture, this season they’re looking to step into the next tier of championship greatness.
A big piece for the Bulldogs quest to achieve that next tier of greatness is junior guard Kadyn Blanchard, who suffered an injury that kept her out of action for the majority of last season. Her absence from last year’s campaign was felt by everyone on the team, including head coach Kurt Westendorp.
“Our biggest new contributor is probably gonna be having Kadyn Blanchard back from injury” Westendorp said. “We really missed her scoring punch from last year so having her back it’s like we’re adding a new piece to that roster.”
Blanchard was first team all-league as a freshman, and second team all-league as a sophomore. She is expected to have a big role within the offensive for the team to start the season.
With championships being the team’s main goal, the first of them will have to be winning GLIAC and everyone on the squad is laser-focused on the GLIAC play in December.
GLIAC defensive player of the year and all-GLIAC defensive team member DeShonna Day is ready to see what this team can do this year.
“We’re very excited because everybody is coming back this year, so we got experience on the team.” Day said. “ I’m ready to see if the GLIAC can hold us.”
Ferris begins their revenge tour and climb back to the top by facing their first opponent Missouri S&T on Nov. 10 at home.
The Bulldogs will begin their 2023-24 campaign when they face their opponent in the Missouri University of Science and Technology Miners in Lebanon, Ill. on Nov. 10.