Off and running

If you take a look at the box score from Boston College's first game of the 2006-2007 season against Sacred Heart, you'd see one familiar statistics line - that of senior center Kathrin Ress.

Ress had her usual share of points and rebounds, 16 and 12 respectively to be exact, playing a large part in the Eagles' strong play on both sides of the floor.

But aside from Ress and fellow seniors Kindyll Dorsey and Sarah Marshall, the names at the top of the box score, Egnell, Kentish, and Brown, are entirely new to the women's basketball team this season.

Thanks to the efforts of the newcomers, who earned their way to the top of the box score against SHU, the Eagles were able to defeat the pesky Pioneers, an NCAA tournament team last season, 68-46 on Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum.

Losing three key senior contributors - one of the program's best players ever in Brooke Queenan, the team's strongest defender in Aja Parham, and a consistent post threat in Lisa Macchia - figured to have an effect on the 2006-2007 campaign.

It is still too early in the season to make any sweeping generalizations, especially after one game against the class of the Northeast Conference, miles away from the class of the ACC.

But what is clearly evident after the team's first game is that the three newcomers at the top of box score, freshman forward Elizabeth Egnell, junior forward Kaydia Kentish, and freshman guard Ayla Brown, have loads of talent and are ready to contribute right away.

"I knew that coming into September, that this is the first time in - I can't tell you - in my career, that we've had so many new players coming in and have to play right away," said BC head coach Cathy Inglese.

What Inglese also knew was that this new blood was going to change the identity of BC's offense from a more half-court oriented attack, to one that can push the ball in transition often with its newfound speed.

"We have to depend upon our freshman; they have good basketball IQ, they work very hard, and they give us some speed. With Kaydia, that's a quick lineup, and they give us really, a lot of fast break opportunities. We're quicker than we've really ever been, and that's something we have to take advantage of," said Inglese.

And they did all afternoon long against Sacred Heart.

Late in the first half, when the Pioneers were still within striking distance, Egnell stole the ball from Sacred Heart forward Jasmine Walker.

Using her deadly combination of size (6-1) and speed, Egnell went coast to coast for an easy lay-up to put BC up 27-11 at 3:45.

Then on the ensuing Sacred Heart possession, Egnell stole the ball again from Walker, and this time found Brown who was speeding up the floor past the back line of the Pioneers' defense for another easy lay-up.

On the other end of the floor, Kentish stole the ball from the Pioneers, getting the ball out to Dorsey, who found Kentish after she ran the length of the floor, for an open lay-up to put BC up 29-11 at 2:51. The score effectively ended any SHU hope of keeping the game close in the first half.

In the second half, behind the efforts of Brown and Kentish, who had eight and nine points, respectively, the Eagles maintained their big lead over Sacred Heart to ensure an easy victory.

Not lost on Inglese was the fact that the defensive contributions of her newest players led to the many easy baskets the Eagles got in the game, and she hopes they continue to get throughout the season.

"The kids like to run, and you got get points and play good defense [to run], and we did a good job in the defensive area," said Inglese.

Next to Ress in the stat line on the box score, Egnell's final totals read 13 points, seven rebounds, two steals; Kentish's line read 11 points, five rebounds, one steal; and Brown's line read 14 points, eight rebounds, one block.

Perhaps we should get used to these three names: Egnell, Kentish, and Brown.

They'll probably be near the seniors' names at the top of the box score for the remainder of the promising Eagles' 2006-2007 campaign.