[Women's Basketball] WBB Gameday Preview: KCAC season begins tonight for Falcons vs. Bethel
The Lowdown: Bethel College at Friends University
Location: Garvey Center
When: Wednesday, Nov. 16 @ 6 pm
Broadcast: https://kcacnetwork.com/friends/
Live Stats: https://bit.ly/3Eb1ArX
Flying with the Falcons: The Friends University Falcons enter conference play flying high, winners of four of their five non-conference outings to begin the season. The Falcons took apart a pair of Sooner Athletic Conference opponents this past weekend, winning 68-49 over Southwestern Assemblies of God University Friday (Nov. 11) and then 80-59 over Oklahoma City University on Saturday (Nov. 12). Rayland Garner (FR/Kingfisher, Okla.) averaged 20 points per game and 9.5 rebounds in the two wins, while Taylor Jackson (SO/Houston, Texas) scored 12 ppg along with eight rebounds and 4.5 blocks to earn KCAC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Garner is quickly making her mark in her first season as a Falcon, scoring a team-high and ranking second in the KCAC with 17.4 ppg. She is also second on the team with six rebounds per game.
Jackson, last season's KCAC Freshman of the Year, is picking up where she left off last year with 11.2 ppg, a team-high eight rebounds per game (third in the KCAC) and a KCAC-leading 3.6 blocks per game.
McKenzie Shippy (SR/Woodbine, Kan. ) is second on the team in scoring at 12.6 ppg, with Bridget Busbee (SR/Grand Prairie, Texas) (2.8 apg) and Gracie Sammons (SR/Aubrey, Texas) (2.4 apg) serving as the leading distributors on the Falcons.
Irie Razor (SR/Grand Prairie, Texas) has given the Falcons a valuable threat from beyond the arc, hitting 60 percent (9-of-15) of her three-point attempts that is tied for third in the KCAC.
Scouting the Threshers: The Bethel College Threshers come into KCAC action at 1-3 overall and are coming off a 92-66 loss at College of the Ozarks last Saturday (Nov. 12). Bethel's lone win was Nov. 5 at Cal Maritime.
Jazmine Peete is leading Bethel this season in both points (11.0 ppg) and rebounds (6.5 ppg), with Brianna Clark recording a team-high 2.3 assists.
The Series: The Falcons swept the two meetings vs. the Threshers last season and have now won 10 of the past 14 meetings between the two schools. Friends is 31-11 vs. Bethel since the 2003-04 season.
Quoting Head Coach Dean Jaderston:
"Conference play raises the intensity another notch. Each team knows each other so well. You don't surprise people, you have to compete and outexecute them. Bethel is an athletic team who has size in the post. If we guard for 40 minutes, rebound well, and take care of the ball though, we can start conference play with a win."
She's always defensive: Picking up right where she left off last season, Taylor Jackson continues to be a major deterrent for the Falcons along the interior. Jackson won KCAC Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career Monday (Nov. 14) after averaging 4.5 blocks and five defensive rebounds in a pair of Falcon routs this past weekend. Read the full release on Jackson's award HERE.
Immediate Impact: The Falcons are getting major contributions from a pair of newcomers to the program in Rayland Garner and Irie Razor. In five games off the bench, Garner leads the Falcons and ranks second in the KCAC with 17.4 ppg. Razor has flashed big-time potential from the perimeter, hitting 60 percent (9-of-15) of her three-point attempts that is tied for third in the KCAC.
Sponsor Alerts: Friends University Athletics is excited to have Home2 Suites by Hilton back as an official athletic sponsor this season! For more on what they can offer, click HERE to visit their official webpage.
Tickets: Fans are able to tickets all home basketball games by clicking HERE.
Falcons by the Numbers:
Overall record: 4-1
KCAC: 0-0
Home: 3-0
Road: 0-0
Neutral: 1-1
When scoring:
Under 50 points: 0-1
50-59 points: 0-0
60-69 points: 1-0
70-79 points: 0-0
80-89 points: 3-0
90+ points: 0-0
When allowing:
Under 50 points: 1-0
50-59 points: 2-0
60-69 points: 0-0
70-79 points: 1-1
80-89 points: 0-0
90+ points: 0-0
When leading at halftime: 4-0
When trailing at halftime: 0-1
When tied at halftime: 0-0
When committing more turnovers: 0-1
When committing fewer turnovers: 4-0
When turnovers are even: 0-0
When leading in field-goal percentage: 4-0
When trailing in field-goal percentage: 0-1
When field-goal percentage is even: 0-0
When leading in three-point percentage: 4-0
When trailing in three-point percentage: 1-1
When leading in rebounding: 2-1
When trailing in rebounding: 1-0
When rebounding is even: 1-0
When leading in assists: 4-0
When trailing in assists: 0-1
When assists are even: 0-0
In OT: 0-0
The Coaches:
Dean Jaderston is in his fourth season at the helm of the Friends University women's basketball program.
The program broke out under Jaderston last season, coming in fourth place in the KCAC for their best conference finish since winning the league in the 2017-18 season.
Jaderston coached a trio of All-KCAC performers last season, highlighted by KCAC Freshman of the Year Taylor Jackson.
Jaderston brings a wealth of experience to Friends University, with over 30 years of coaching high school and college basketball (12 years high school, 19 years of college). A two-time KCAC Coach of the Year, Jaderston coached six NAIA All-America performers during his tenure at Sterling College and won two KCAC championships and one KCAC tournament championship. Off the hardwood, Jaderston also made a significant impact, overseeing a team GPA of at least 3.0 for 11 of the past 13 years. He also led three basketball mission trips to Panama.
"I'm so excited to be coaching at Friends University," said Coach Jaderston. "From the administration to the staff, there is a level of professionalism and excitement that is contagious. As our program and culture continue to grow, the sky is the limit!"
Prior to taking over at Sterling, Jaderston served in the dual role of men's basketball head coach and assistant athletic director at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL for five seasons.
He also spent eight seasons as both the head girls' basketball and head girls' and boys' tennis coach at Rosemount High School in Rosemount, MN, and 4 years as the head boys' basketball coach at Eastview High School.
Before venturing into the coaching profession, Jaderston was a successful college basketball player at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minn. He was a four-time all-conference selection while helping the team advance to four national tournaments. He also earned All-America and Academic All-America honors at Crown College.
He also competed in tennis for three years at Crown and was a two-time conference singles and three-time conference doubles champion.
Jaderston and his wife Julie have been married for 33 years and are active in youth and camping ministries. They currently serve as executive directors of a premier summer Christian family conference called Northern Pines of Minnesota.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History/Secondary Education from Crown College in 1989 and then completed a Master of Arts in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy from Adler Graduate School in 1998.
Derrick Pringle, Jr. is in his second season as head coach of the Bethel College Threshers after serving as the head coach at NAIA member Simpson University (Calif.) since the 2007 season. At Simpson, Pringle guided the program to a top-four finish in the California Pacific Conference on 11 occasions. He also had a stint as the men's basketball coach at Puget Sound Christian College (Wash.) from 2005-07.
Up Next: The Falcons will play an exhibition game at NCAA D-II Northwestern Oklahoma State University Saturday afternoon (Nov. 19) in Alva, Okla. before resuming KCAC action next Tuesday evening (Nov. 22) at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kan.