Alumni game to celebrate 30 years of Lady Bruins basketball
Comments (...)The St. Bede Lady Bruins won their 11th regional championship in school history and capped another stellar season with a sectional finals appearance Thursday.
On Saturday, former St. Bede players will gather to celebrate how the Lady Bruins program got there. The Academy homecoming will mark the 30th anniversary of the girls basketball program, which started in 1982-83 under the direction of former coach Don Carlson.
Tip-off will be 6 p.m. at Abbott Vincent Gymnasium.
Dawn Williams, who as a senior played on the very first Lady Bruin team under her father, has spearheaded the alumni game. She said its been a lot of fun renewing old contacts, and all the girls are excited for the game.
More than 50 players have committed to playing Saturday, including two seniors from the Class of ‘83, Williams and Shelly Gruenwald, to three 2012 grads. Katie (Carls) Milus, the program’s all-time leading scorer, will represent the Class of 2006, making an encore performance in her No. 3, which has been retired.
They will be divided into two teams, coached by Carlson and current coach Tom McGunnigal. When Williams was gathering information for the game, she noted McGunnigal has coached 416, as many games as her father won (416-356) in a long career that started with the boys before switching to start up the girls program at SBA.
“Career coaches are rare these days, but these two men have made a huge impact on the lives of many athletes because they are career coaches,” Williams said.
Carlson plans to get them all on the floor for the first half and from there, “it’s who thinks they can get up and down a few more times the second half,” he said.
“The one thing I know for sure is we will have fun and enjoy seeing each other again after all these years. I know they will try hard and compete to the best of their ability they have left with them.”
Williams said several players from her dad’s crew got together to play recently, and while “we are all a lot slower than we used to be when it comes to running the court, many can still shoot.” Especially, it seems Joanne (Renkosik) Stachowiak (Class of ‘84), who hit 19 free throws in a row.
Williams, the point guard for her dad’s first team, left the workout with a foot injury and will not be able to play, now supporting a walking boot.
All the players compiled a profile and memories of their day playing basketball at the Academy. There was one common theme — the bus ride home down St. Bede Lane.
Part of the night’s events will include free throw and three-point contests.
Green Team Roster:
Coach Don Carlson
Asst. Coach Michelle Mershon
Asst. Coach Joe Conroy
Asst. Coach Melissa Lorenzi Basil
Dawn Carlson Williams ’83 #32
Shelly Gruenwald ’83 #43
Joanne Renkosik Stachowicz ’84 #41
Stephanie Zeman Cullen ’84 #44
Stephanie Waszkowiak Douglas ’85 #32
Audra Bima Smith ’86 #25
Lori Howarth ’86 #10
Laura Jasiek Reilly ‘86 #22
Mary Schweikert Lipka ’86 #34
Melissa Greene Bosnich ’86 #11
Jennifer Moore Conti ’88 #32
Shelley Ugasco Cook ’88 #20
Peggy Cain Nocera ’89 #14
Dana Strell Jauch ’91 #32
Erin Thompson Holcomb ’92 #30
Amy Wozniak ’92 #34
Molly Spears Williamson ‘92 #12
Angela Taliani Mehlbrech ’92 #40
Maria Lorenzi Moody ’94 #44
Lynne Hawkins Pohar ’94 #11
Staci Sessler ’94 #15
Mary Charbonneau Husser ’95 #25
Kate Nagle ’95 #22
Jules Tybor ’96 #32
Amber Sessler ’96 #34
Tina Wujek ’97 #55
Heidi Kunkel Ehm ’97 #15
Lauren Hydock ’98 #22
Teresa Martin Anderson ’98 #33
White Team Roster:
Coach Tom McGunnigal
Asst. Coach Tom Ptak
Asst. Coach John Hansen
Asst. Coach Bob Jaegle
Asst. Coach Stefanie Kaufmann
Erin McGunnigal Heide ’00 #40
Sarah Slevin Wein ’00 #25
Katie Zemann Forbes ’00 #33
Laine Twanow ‘00 #12
Emily Arkins Balestri ’02 #32
Brianna Pienta ’03 #22
Katie Kunkel Chapple ’03 #25
Margaret Carter ’03 #32
Meg Fitzgerald ’03 #20
Britt Swingel ’04 #33
Taleah Sanford ’04 #30
Katie Carls Milus ’06 #3
Nicole Bradford ’06 #2
Kelly Spitz ‘06 #11
Sarah Stariha ’08 #20
Lauren Eiten ’08 #11
Emily Urbanski ‘08 #15
Kassi Sandrolini ’08 #30
Samantha Galas ’09 #44
Ashley Pearson ’10 #21
Jillian Stariha ’10 #20
Jenna Ebener ’10 #11
Kara Dudek ’10 #33
Kelsey Moravec ’11 #40
Hailee Brayton ’11 #23
Stevie Fisher ’11 #15
Kayla MacDavitt ’12 #22
Taylor Miller ’12 #34
Carly Ficek ’12 #20
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