The Shawnee State University Women's Basketball Team enters the 2004 - 2005 season ranked 8th in NAIA Division II and poised to make its 7th straight trip to the American Mideast Conference Tournament and 12th consecutive trip to the NAIA Division II National Tournament.  

The Bears return 10 players, including 4 starters, from last year's team which finished 24-8 overall and 13-5 in the AMC.  Of the four departing players, only Mandy Goin, a 1st Team All-AMC honoree, played more than eight minutes per game.  In addition to Goin's departure, senior guard Heather Schilling is likely out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Returning for the Bears are seniors Cassie (Hackworth) Hannah, Nikki Tucker, and Natalie Gill.  Hannah, a 1st Team All-AMC honoree, was the second leading scorer for the Bears last season averaging 14.4 points.  She was the team's third leading rebounder at 4.5/game.  Tucker, a three-year starter at point guard, averaged 5.8 points and 2.0 assists per game last season.  She is on pace to finish her career with more than 200 assists and 200 steals.  Gill, a spot player throughout her career, is likely to see a significant increase in minutes with the injury to Schilling.  

Juniors Mandy Deal, Shannon Thomas, Anna Ramey, and Tara Walker each played in all 32 of the Bears' games last season.  Deal started 11 games at point guard last season.  She averaged 2.8 points and 2.2 assists per game.  Thomas, a 5'11" forward has missed just one game in two years with the Bears.  She has averaged 8.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game over the course of her career.  Ramey is yet to miss a game in her SSU career.  Over the past two seasons she has averaged 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.  Walker saw limited action as a freshman, but she played in all but one game last year.  She averaged 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.  She will likely replace Mandy Goin as the starting center.

Sophomores Jeanna Diamond and Deanna Jones each expect to play an expanded role this season.  Diamond played in 19 games last season after a knee injury cut short her freshman year after just two games in 2002.  She averaged 2.0 points and 1.0 rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman.  She is career 80% three-point shooter for her career.  Jones played in 26 games as a freshman.  She averaged 2.7 points per game while shooting 42.2% from the field including 36% from beyond the arc. 

New to the Bears squad are freshmen Shannon Leasure and Ali Hull and junior Jennifer Cummins.  Leasure, a 5'5" guard was an All-Ohio performer at Shenandoah High High School.  She will likely see a great deal of time in place of the injured Heather Schilling.  Hull, a 6'1" center will help fill the void left by Mandy Goin.  She has the ability to play in the post as well as out on the perimeter.  Cummins, a forward, is an All-AMC player on the Shawnee State women's soccer team.  She has not played basketball since her days at Xenia High School, but is one of the best all around athletes on the team.  

Shawnee State opens the season on Friday, November 5 versus St. Vincent College in the opening game of the Shawnee State Wendy's Classic.