Hall of Fame
The 1987-88 women’s basketball team burst onto the national scene putting together the best season in program history at the time. The Lions finished the campaign with an impressive 22-6 record, marking the second time the College reached the 20-win plateau.
The Lions had a strong regular season tying for the top spot in the New Jersey Athletic Conference “B” Division with an 11-2 record. Also during the year, the College knocked off undefeated Elizabethtown College, which was coming off a strong showing in the previous year’s NCAA Division III Tournament.
After taking second in the NJAC Tournament to conference rival Kean, head coach Mika Ryan and the Lions garnered an at-large bid to the 1988 NCAA Division III Tournament. The College quickly got another shot at the Cougars facing them in the opening round of the tournament and scoring a 74-73 win behind a tremendous performance from senior Kimm Lacken. Lacken finished the game with 33 points and 11 rebounds propelling the team into the NCAA Atlantic Regional finals. The team then saw its tournament run come to an end falling to Ohio Northern University.
The team finished 17th in the final Division III rankings.
One of the major keys to the team’s success was its defense as they allowed only 56.4 points a game, recorded 100 blocked shots, and posted a rebound margin of 10.4.
Depth was another strong suit for the team as 10 different players earned spots in the starting line –up throughout the course of the season.
Offensively, Lacken finished as the team’s leading scoring at a clip of 18.9 per contest and pulled down 10.0 rebounds. At the time, her 530 points during the season set a new school record and she remains the all-time leading scorer with 1,518 points and rebounds with 855. She also became the first player from the College to receive Kodak All-America honors.
Classmate Regina Peter was another catalyst for the team as the guard scored 10.8 points per game and led the squad with 133 assists.
In all, eight different players finished the year scoring at least 100 points. That group included Lacken, Peter, Robyn Korchick, Mary Cullinane, Sue Holloway, Beth Ardley, Tracey Walsh, and Kara McVey.
Ardley, who was the team’s captain, started every game but two during the season and was second on the team in both assists (103) and steals (41) and Walsh was a force in the paint garnering 189 rebounds placing her second on the club.
Adding to the team providing valuable minutes were Janet Mehes, Danielle Guille, and Sharon Gittens.
