It was a season to remember for the Shippensburg University women’s basketball team.
With a roster loaded with talent and a coach prepared to take the team to new heights, the Raiders were poised to storm the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) from the start.
But things did not go according to plan, with SU stumbling to a 5–5 start through the first month of the season. With the team reeling for an answer, the Raiders’ veteran players stepped up and changed the entire course of the season.
“The start that we had was super discouraging,” forward Stephanie Knauer said. The team’s 2014-15 season got off to a rocky start, but like this season, the team’s core players rebounded to finish strong.
“Again, we’re like ‘not another season like this, we cannot do this again,’” Knauer said. “We weren’t going to have that happen again as seniors, and [we] took control and came out with the win streak.”
The Raiders registered their fifth 20-win season under head coach Kristy Trn, with 19 wins coming on the team’s school-record 19 game winning-streak, which saw them go undefeated for more than 2 1/2 months. The Raiders closed out the season 24–7.
“We didn’t look at it at the time, but looking back on it that’s a great accomplishment to have, and it definitely gives you a confidence boost that we were able to do that as a whole and not just by one person,” Knauer said.
By the end of the season, the team sported five 1,000-point scorers, becoming the first team in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) to do so.
“We didn’t all come in star players, but it just goes to show you what hard work and effort can do for a program,” Knauer said. “It just shows how much work we’ve put in throughout our four years,” guard Logan Snyder said. “We’ve improved every single year.”
But this year for the Raiders was different. The team, filled with one of the strongest rosters the university has ever seen, torched the PSAC East, sweeping the conference to go 16-0. SU is the only team to sweep its conference since Gannon University in 2009-10. As records fell left and right, Shippensburg looked poised to do some damage heading into the playoffs.
After getting home-court advantage for the PSAC Playoffs, the Raiders stomped on Bloomsburg University in the first round. The second leg of the tournament was against a familiar foe in Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). But Snyder fell hard driving the lane and was unable to return. Snyder’s injury ignited the team, who dominated the rest of the half for her.
“They really just wanted to play for me and it showed,” Snyder said. “It really meant a lot.”
Snyder, one of the team’s 1,000-point scorers, was missed immediately. She has the ability to drive through the paint to put up the great numbers, and her absence was felt for the rest of the game. Some of the emotional wind was taken from the Raiders’ sails in the second half, and the team ended up falling to IUP in overtime.
“She’s the heart of the program with her hard work and effort,” Knauer said. “Her four years was a ridiculous amount of heart and effort, and for us to do that for her and really just play our hearts out for her is just a small thank you to what she’s put into this program.”
The team’s semifinal loss left questions as to whether or not they would even make the NCAA Tournament. But the announcement finally came, and the Raiders got a fourth seed to matchup against Mercyhurst University in the first round. SU last made the tournament 15 years ago.
The Raiders fell short against Mercyhurst, but the journey to the tournament allowed the team to relish the experiences and accomplishments the players made.
Knauer won PSAC East Player of the Year and received an honorable mention to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II All-American team. All five starters finished in the top 22 in all-time scoring at Shippensburg, with Knauer sitting at 8th and Snyder at 19th.
The team may not walk out with rings, but they have surely left their mark on this university. The thing coach Trn stressed all season was to play for each other and to put the team first, and Trn’s efforts appeared to have paid off.
“There’s not just one person that you rely on, so if someone’s not having a good night, there’s four others that can do it,” Knauer said. “It’s just so special because no one has a team like that.”
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