Kean Women’s Basketball 2022-23 Season Preview

By Kervin Coleman | Published November 20, 2022

The Kean Cougars Women’s Basketball team season is approaching, and they’re set to tip off Nov.9, 7 p.m. vs Stevens Institute of Technology. It will be their first non-NJAC test of the year as well as their home opener; the first of three straight games at home. 

The Cougars will begin their season with Head Coach Mandy King entering her eleventh season of that honor. King leads the charge with a bolstering 126-117 record and coming off of four straight NJAC tournament appearances. 

King led the Cougars to a dynamite season in 2021–2022. Kean had a 17-8 record and a 16-2 record in NJAC, en route to claiming the NJAC Regular Season Championship and the top seed in the NJAC Tournament. 

Fifth-year senior and Art Education major Shannon McCoy was selected as NJAC Player of the Year, and King received her first Coach of the Year nomination. 

Along with winning player of the year, McCoy was also chosen to the All-NJAC first team for the fourth consecutive year, and Sophomore and Accounting major Brittany Graff made the second team.

Following his selection to the D3hoops and ECAC All-Region teams, McCoy also earned a spot on the WBCA All-America squad. Additionally, the group received a special mention in the WBCA Academic Top 25 publication. With all the success, came sorrow as the Cougars fell to The College of New Jersey in the first round of the NJAC tournament. 

“Our chemistry is really strong, and I think that’s very important to win in the NJAC,” Natalie Mileski, senior guard and forward said. “When the lights shined on all of us, we got scared and stopped at the moment.” 

The Cougars are going to go as far as their veterans will take them. This team has four new freshmen and eight seniors, as well as 14 players returning overall. One of the four freshmen is Jordyn Keating, a transfer student-athlete from Division II East Stroudsburg University. 

To take the next step the Cougars must continue their strides and build off of what they accomplished last season. They ranked 6th in the NJAC in average points per game with 61.2 PPG and fourth defensively with 58.6 PPG allowed respectively. 

Marlee Sumsion, a Junior forward gave a breakdown of her outlook on the team’s improvement. 

“We’ve all been working on our shots and finishing on the offensive end, that was our downfall,” Sumsion said. “We’ve been getting in 1,000 makes outside of practice a week, each because it’s crucial to our development.”

An outstanding goal for Sumsion is to maintain a healthy student-athlete balance and have a high team GPA and to get recognized as regionally ranked for it. 

The Kean University women’s basketball team was named to the Division III special mention portion of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 team honor rolls. 

The Cougars ended the 2021-22 school year with an average 3.418 GPA.

Outside of the classroom and back onto the court, the Cougars are filled with talented players from top to bottom. The players to look out for goes as follows 

Fifth-year senior and Criminal Justice major Sarah Olivero who played and started in 24 games and averaged 8.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. She posted a 30.0% field goal percentage, a 27.8% three-point percentage, and a 55.1% free-throw percentage. 

Brittany Graff who’s Olivero’s backcourt mate, played and started in 25 games and averaged 12.1 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game. She had a 33.8% field goal percentage, a 23.6% three-point percentage, and a 54.5% free-throw percentage. She looks to repeat and elevate after making the all-NJAC second team last season. 

Fifth-year senior and Biology Health Profession major Kayla Anderson played and started in 25 games and averaged 7.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. She posted a 41.1% field goal percentage and a 79.0% free-throw percentage. 

Shannon McCoy made All-MET First Team, WBCA All-American Honorable Mention, All-ECAC First Team, D3Hoops All-Region IV First Team, Jostens Trophy Finalist, NJAC Player of the Year, All-NJAC First Team, CoSIDA All-District, NJAC Player of the Week (12/6). 

McCoy completed and started in all 25 contests and averaged 16.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. She managed a 31.9% field goal percentage, a 24.6% three-point percentage, and an 85.4% free-throw percentage. 

As of current standing going into her final season, she stands as the Cougars 3rd all-time leading scorer with 1,449 points scored and trailing Melissa Beyruti with 1,974 points who played from 2005-10 and Marajiah Bacon with 1,587 who played 2015-18 respectively. 

“Our expectations are to learn from the mistakes we made last year. Everybody wants to win an NJAC championship and it’s an attainable goal for us” Senior Morgan Dietz stated confidently. “We’re chaotic, a controlled type of chaotic, where everybody does their own thing, and we love each other. Everybody brings something special to the table.” 

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