wbb team photo 2021-2022

Women's Basketball Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

No. 9 Gannon Hosts Bluefield State in 2021-22 Tipoff

BLUEFIELD STATE BIG BLUE (1-1) at No. 9 GANNON LADY KNIGHTS (13-1 in 2020-21)
DATE/TIME: Saturday, November 13, 2021 | 7:00 p.m.
ARENA/LOCATION: Hammermill Center l Erie, Pa.
LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS
 
RADIO:  Gannon basketball fans can catch all of the exciting action of Golden Knights' basketball on 90.5 WERG FM. Jack Quinn and Sean Amicucci will serve as announcers for the games.
 
THE GANNON-BLUEFIELD STATE ALL-TIME SERIES
Gannon leads 2-0
Last Meeting:  Feb. 7 – at Gannon 55, Bluefield State 43 l RECAP
 
ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon women's basketball team opens the 2021-22 campaign on Saturday, November 13 hosting Bluefield State. Tipoff at the Hammermill Center is set for 7:00 p.m. The Lady Knights played an abbreviated schedule of games from January to March earlier this year, finishing with a 13-1 record. Two of those wins came against Bluefield State in a span of three days at the Hammermill Center. Gannon prevailed 90-60 on Feb. 5 and 55-43 on Feb. 7.   
 
While Gannon is debuting on Saturday, Bluefield State opened the season over a week ago with a 69-63 win at Bluefield College. They played an exhibition game at Division I Marshall on Tuesday, suffering a 108-45 loss. On Friday, Edinboro pulled away late for a 72-60 win over the Big Blue..
 
WELCOME BACK FANS
While fans were not allowed in the Hammermill Center earlier in the year due to COVID restrictions, they can now return. However, fans are reminded that masks are required in all indoor facilities on the Gannon campus, including the Hammermill Center. During the winter, the Hammermill Center was adorned with cardboard cutouts, a far cry from the cheers of the Gannon faithful.
 
GANNON FACES HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Gannon was recently chosen the preseason favorite in the PSAC West, edging Indiana(Pa.) in the Coaches' Preseason Poll. Gannon and IUP each received four first place votes, but the Lady Knights received more overall points. Several days later the WBCA Division II Preseason Top 25 was released, with Gannon landing ninth in the rankings.
 
WRIGHT ENTERS 14TH SEASON AS GANNON'S HEAD COACH
Cleve Wright is in his 14th season as Gannon's head coach, and 19th overall as a head coach. He is actually in his second stint at Gannon. He enjoyed tremendous success while guiding the Lady Knights from 2002-13, posting a 233-100 record with five NCAA Tournament appearances and a PSAC title. After four seasons as the head coach at Miami (Oh.) and another two years as the associate head coach at Eastern Illinois, Wright returned to Gannon in 2019-20. He guided GU to a 25-6 ledger in his return, with the Lady Knights defeating seventh-ranked IUP, 50-40, in the PSAC Championship game. On the eve of hosting half of the bracket of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional, the pandemic shut everything down. Wright owns an overall record of 306-194 and is 271-107 at Gannon.
 
GANNON, BLUEFIELD STATE MET TWICE IN 2020-21
After never playing before, Gannon and Bluefield State met on the hardcourt twice in a span of three of three days in early February, both at the Hammermill Center. The Lady Knights cruised to a 90-60 win in the first meeting on Feb. 5 as five players scored in double figures. Samantha Pirosko (Eastlake, Ohio/Eastlake North) led the way with 20 points, while Emma Wright (Fairview, Pa./Talawanda) added 17 points and a team-leading nine rebounds. Sydney Mitchell (Halethorpe, Md./Seton Keough) and Delaney Dogan (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) contributed 14 markers with Emily Poling (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) scoring 10 points. After shooting 62.3 percent in that game, Gannon dipped to 43.6 percent two days later in a 55-43 win. Mitchell scored 12 points and Pirosko 11 to pace the Lady Knights. The victory represented the 300th career win for head coach Cleve Wright.
 
LITTLE CHANGE TO ROSTER
Virtually the entire roster from this past winter returns. In fact, head coach Cleve Wright even welcomes back 13 players, and has three players who were available for little or no time this winter. Tori Obenrader (Fryburg, Pa./North Clarion) would only play in the first five games, while Boston McKinney (Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) returned for the final six games after an injury forced her to miss the first eight contests. After handing out 138 assists while starting all 31 games in 2019-20, the senior guard was only able to play limited minutes and totaled seven assists. Junior guard Ali Benim (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) also returns after sitting out the 2020-21 season.
 
OBENRADER HEALTHY ONCE AGAIN
Tori Obenrader (Fryburg, Pa./North Clarion) was a first team All-PSAC West selection in 2019-20 and the MVP of the PSAC Tournament. The 5'11" junior was lost after five games in 2020-21 due to a knee injury. She was averaging 12.6 ppg. and 7.0 rpg. at the time of the injury. The year before those averages were 16.9 and 8.2, respectively. She was named the 2018-19 PSAC West Freshman of the Year after averaging 7.9 ppg. and 6.9 rpg. Obenrader enters the season with 833 career points and 502 career rebounds.
 
PIROSKO STEPS UP IN '20-21
With Obenrader out, Samantha Pirosko (Eastlake, Ohio/Eastlake North) emerged as the leading scorer at 15.9 ppg., adding 6.0 rpg. while shooting an impressive 60.0 percent from the floor (87-of-145).  The 5'10" sophomore averaged 6.3 ppg. and 3.0 rpg. the year before. Pirosko scored in double figures in the final 12 games this winter, and led GU in scoring nine times and in rebounding on five occasions.
 
TRIO OF DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS RETURN
In addition to Pirosko, Sydney Mitchell (Halethorpe, Md./Seton Keough) and Emma Wright (Fairview, Pa./Talawanda) also scored in double figures in the winter. Mitchell, a 5'11" senior, has started 76 straight games and 78 in her career. She averaged 10.6 ppg. Wright, a transfer from Grand Valley State in her first season at Gannon, also came in at 10.6 ppg. while adding 4.9 rpg. The 5'11" graduate student, who is the daughter of Cleve Wright, led Gannon with 24 3-pointers in 60 attempts. 
 
TOUGH EARLY-SEASON SLATE
The schedule-makers didn't do Gannon any favors to start the season. After opening with Bluefield State (Nov. 13) and Lake Erie (note the new date of Nov. 21), the Lady Knights will spend Thanksgiving in the Terrace Hotel Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Florida Southern. They face Lynn on November 26, then the next day take on a Florida Southern team that was 19-11 in 2019-20. The Mocs were selected to compete in the NCAA South Regional, which was canceled due to the pandemic. PSAC play begins a week later. Gannon opens with the top two teams in the Eastern Division preseason poll. GU visits preseason favorite on December 3, then heads to Shippensburg the next day. Both teams were 21-9 in 2019-20. Gannon eliminated the Raiders in the PSAC semifinals by a 74-58 score.
 
WRIGHT ADDS FORMER KNIGHT BATTS, BRAUN AS ASSISTANT COACHES
Cleve Wright added a pair of assistant coaches to his staff late this summer. His staff is now comprised of former Gannon standout Brittany Batts, plus Allison Braun, who was a standout at McDowell High School. Batts played for the Lady Knights from 2011-15, currently ranking 20th in career scoring with 1,152 points while appearing in 125 games. She holds the top two season figures for 3-pointers made with 102 in 2012-13 and 93 in 2013-14. She ranks second in career 3-pointers made (286) and attempts (688) and is fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (.416). Batts helped lead the Lady Knights to a 102-24 record and four NCAA postseason appearances. She has already worked as an assistant coach at the Division I, II, and III levels while in the early stages of her coaching career. She joins the Lady Knights after working as an assistant at Division I Chicago State last year. Prior to that, she was a member of the Shepherd coaching staff in 2018-19 and 2019-20.  She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Castelton University in 2015, then moved on to Bridgewater College (Va.) in 2017-18. Braun joins the Gannon staff after serving as an assistant coach at SUNY Cortland the last three years. During the 2019-20 season she was part of Cortland's coaching contingent that was named the SUNYAC Coaching Staff of the Year. The Red Dragons finished 22-7, advanced to the finals of the SUNYAC tournament, earned an NCAA Division III tournament at-large bid. Braun played four years at Division I Canisius College from 2009-13. She was voted as the team's Most Valuable Player by her teammates in both her junior and senior years. Braun appeared in 108 career games, with 53 starts.
 
GU SIGNS PAIR OF RECRUITS
Cleve Wright and his staff signed a pair of recruits to national letters of intent earlier this week, grabbing both from the Buckeye state. Briana Claxon is a 5'7" guard from South Webster (Oh.) High School, while Andrea Maibach is a 6'2" forward from Norwayne (Oh.) High School. Claxon is a two-time All-Ohio selection who averaged 24.4 ppg. as a junior. Maibach has led Norwayne in rebounding the last two years, with a 23-3 finish a year ago.    
 
SCOUTING BLUEFIELD STATE
The Big Blue have already taken to the court three teams in 2021-22. On Nov. 4, they opened with a 69-63 win at Bluefield University, followed by a 108-45 defeat at Division I Marshall in an exhibition game. Bluefield State is playing two games in northwest Pennsylvania. The Big Blue played at Edinboro, dropping a 72-60 decision that was tight for much of the game.. Paul Davis is in his first season as head coach. He previously served as an assistant coach at Livingstone College. Bluefield State posted a 7-10 record during the winter. Dani Janutolo is the top returning scorer and rebounder at 9.0 ppg. and 5.0 rpg. The 5'10" redshirt junior had a team-high 18 points in the opener at Bluefield. Katrina Davis, a 5'2" redshirt freshman, added 16 points and seven rebounds, then scored 11 points at Edinboro. Azariah Binford paced Bluefield State at Edinboro with 15 points, while Londen Coleman pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.  .   
 
NEXT FOR THE LADY KNIGHTS
Gannon remains at home for the second game of the season, hosting Lake Erie on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 1:00 p.m. at the Hammermill Center. Please note that the date of the non-conference contest was changed recently.
 
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Players Mentioned

Ali Benim

#10 Ali Benim

G
5' 8"
Junior
Delaney Dogan

#54 Delaney Dogan

P
6' 0"
Senior
Boston McKinney

#15 Boston McKinney

PG
5' 4"
Senior
Sydney Mitchell

#23 Sydney Mitchell

G
5' 11"
Senior
Tori Obenrader

#25 Tori Obenrader

P
5' 11"
Junior
Samantha Pirosko

#44 Samantha Pirosko

P
5' 10"
Sophomore
Emily Poling

#20 Emily Poling

G
5' 9"
Junior
Emma Wright

#13 Emma Wright

G
5' 11"
Graduate Student

Players Mentioned

Ali Benim

#10 Ali Benim

5' 8"
Junior
G
Delaney Dogan

#54 Delaney Dogan

6' 0"
Senior
P
Boston McKinney

#15 Boston McKinney

5' 4"
Senior
PG
Sydney Mitchell

#23 Sydney Mitchell

5' 11"
Senior
G
Tori Obenrader

#25 Tori Obenrader

5' 11"
Junior
P
Samantha Pirosko

#44 Samantha Pirosko

5' 10"
Sophomore
P
Emily Poling

#20 Emily Poling

5' 9"
Junior
G
Emma Wright

#13 Emma Wright

5' 11"
Graduate Student
G