2016-17 Olivet College Women's Basketball Preview

The Olivet College women's basketball team will start its 2016-17 season next week, and first-year head coach Zach Ingles is ready for it to start. Even though he has been at Olivet for just over a month, he is optimistic the team has the senior leadership and players who can win games this season.

The team features four seniors. The one with the most Olivet experience is Jillian Nickels who has worn a Comet uniform for the last three seasons. In 54 career games, she has 159 points and 119 rebounds. Her career single-game scoring high was 15 points back during her freshman year in a 99-51 win over Alma.

T'Keyia Collins, Leeza Fortner and Katie McKinnon all transferred to Olivet last year from a junior college and had immediate impacts on the teams. Collins played in all 26 games, with 11 starts, and average 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. She scored in double figures in four of the last seven games, and single-game scoring high was 18 points in an 80-76 win over Dominican.

Fortner was one of the first guards to come off the bench last year, averaging almost 12 minutes per game. She scored 69 points, grabbed 37 rebounds and dished out 28 assists. Her best game was a 5-of-6 shooting performance for 13 points against Illinois Tech.

McKinnon began the season on the bench but was moved into a starting role after the 12th game. In 26 games, including 15 starts, she had averages of 6.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. McKinnon posted a career-high 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting and nine rebounds in a 79-77 loss to Calvin.

Kali Hancock returns for her final season in an Olivet uniform. She missed the entire 2015-16 season due to an injury suffered in a preseason scrimmage. In her first season at Olivet during the 2014-15 campaign, Hancock played in nine games, scoring 13 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.

Junior Ayren Parrish is back for her third season. In both of her first two seasons, she has played in 21 games and two starts. As a freshman, Parrish scored 136 points, dished out 35 assists and made 34 steals. As a sophomore, her numbers dipped slightly to 106 points, 24 assists and 19 steals.

The only other returning player is sophomore Olivia Ricketts. Last year, she scored 20 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in 16 games played.

The roster also features Stephanie Cochran, a transfer from Kalamazoo Valley Community College. The rest of the roster are freshmen Amari Brown, Jazmin Hildebrand, Brittany McDuffie, Siera Sterley, Megan Sysko and Dominique Whitehead. All of the newcomers are going to get opportunities to play.

Olivet opens the 2016-17 season next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19, at the Damon's/Holiday Inn Tip-Off Tournament, hosted by Wilmington (Ohio) College. The Comets first game is against the host Quakers Friday night at 6 p.m. The other first-round game features Transylvania (Ky.) University vs. Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) University. The losers will battle in a consolation game Saturday at 1 p.m., while winners will face each other in a championship game Saturday at 3 p.m.