Andrea Clark Nov. 12, 2008

Nikkel debuts as Central's head coach

PELLA—Jerry Nikkel is in his 34th year of coaching but he’ll make his debut as Central College women’s basketball coach Saturday when the Dutch open the 2008-09 campaign at Westminster College (Mo.). Game time is 2 p.m. in Fulton, Mo.      

Westminster, 11-14 last season, returns eight letterwinners, including 6-foot senior center Ashley Stanfill, the team leader last year with 12.0 points and 6.4 rebounds a game.

“They like to shoot the 3 (-point shot),” Nikkel said. “They’re very methodical and try to outmuscle you.”

But under Nikkel, who was a Central assistant the past four years, the Dutch don’t want to get in a half-court game.

“We’re rather get into an up-tempo game,” he said. “We want to push the ball and try to get more shots than the opponent. We’ll see if we can do that. Last Saturday in our scrimmage we ran quite well. We hope that continues.”

Central returns two starters from last year’s 4-21 club. Back are 5-6 junior point guard Ashley Gerst (Columbus Junction, Wapello HS) and 6-2 sophomore center Andrea Clark (Guthrie Center). Clark was the team MVP and a second-team all-Iowa Conference pick last year as a freshman, averaging 13.3 points and 7.4 rebounds and recording seven statistical double-doubles.

But also back is 2006-07 team MVP Laura Porter (senior, Monroe, PCM HS), a 5-7 guard who suffered a season-ending injury in last year’s opener. A first-team all-conference pick two years ago, Porter averaged 15.2 points and 4.3 assists. And 6-0 senior forward Emily De Jong (Ankeny) was a two-year starter before missing the first half of last season while studying in Europe through Central Abroad.

Nikkel said the other starting spot Saturday will likely go to 5-10 sophomore forward Rachel Davy (Cottage Grove, Minn.). First off the bench will be 5-7 sophomore guard Jordan Waddell (Guthrie Center), 5-7 senior guard Megan Carman (Newton) and 5-6 freshman guard Sarah Paulson (Ottumwa). Paulson was the Iowa Conference women’s golf MVP in her rookie season this fall and is quickly showing promise in basketball as well, Nikkel said.

Nikkel is eager to see how his enthusiastic, but undersized club fares.

“Things have gone well so far,” he said. “I’ve been pleased with practice. The attitudes are fantastic. They’re excited about the running game but the question is going to be our defense and rebounding. You can’t run unless you rebound and can’t press unless you score.”