Last Saturday the Barclay College women’s basketball team opened their season at home against Crossroads College (Rochester, Minn) with several new faces. The Bears added four freshman this year to a team returning five players from last year’s team. Senior guards, RaeLyn Epp (Corn, Okla.) and Katelyn Ogle (Haviland, Kans.), forwards Emily Entz (Valley Center, Kans.) and Shandy Edenborough (Goodwell, Okla.), and sophomore guard Brittany McDowell (Fowler, Kans.) look to lead the way this season. These returners are joined by freshman Allison Cochran (Platteville, Colo.), Mycha Owens (Cullison, Kans.), Hannah Brown (Haviland, Kans.) and Rebekah Fitch (Argonia, Kans.). The Bears will also gain returning guard/forward Mercedeez Bell (Woodward, Okla.) at the semester break.

Regardless of the new roster, the Bears didn’t mess around to start out their new season. They started the game quickly and through pressure and good free throw shooting were able to get a nice win to start the season, 73-46. Every player scored, got at least one rebound and all but one recorded a steal. The Bears were led by Epp with 16 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Brown and Cochran both scored 13 points while Edenborough added 9. Entz led the team in rebounding with 10, Edenborough grabbed 8 and Cochran and Epp both had 7.

“We had some first game nerves but I was thrilled with the way we hit our free throws,” said head coach Ryan Kendall. “We struggled all last year from the line so it was great to see us hit as many as we did (22 for 30). We also distributed the ball well and had 20 assists as a team. We still have plenty of things to work on obviously but it’s good to work hard and start the season with a win.”

The Bears travel to McPherson to play in the Central Christian College “Classic for Christ”. They’ll play Friday afternoon at 2:00 and then will play host Central Christian on Saturday at 4:00.