For SUNY Old Westbury women’s basketball, the goal is simple: build upon last year’s 20-win season and win the Skyline Conference for the first time. The Panthers, who were ousted in the semi-finals of both the Skyline Conference and the ECAC Championship Tournament last year, are young, but have a lot of confidence after going 20-8 overall and 13-5 in the conference last season.
“Every college coach in America evaluates their team on winning 20 games,” said head coach Michael Krasnoff who enters his tenth year as head coach. “If you can win 20 games, that’s just huge.”
The Panthers acquired a new assistant coach in Lynda Day to help their team attempt to reach the goal. Day is a former Queens College player and assistant coach. Day got the job over 50 other applicants from around the country.
Krasnoff hopes to lead his team to another big year, but knows that with the departure of perennial losers Bard and Yeshiva from the conference, the team has a much more difficult schedule than last season. “The Skyline Conference is now down to eight teams,” Krasnoff said. “Bard and Yeshiva were teams we played twice each so that’s four games we usually win that are now gone and they are replaced with tougher non-conference teams. It makes our schedule a lot harder.”
The Panthers have also lost some senior leaders to graduation, but have gained some athletic freshman that could fill the void. “While we lost in leadership due to our seniors graduating we have gained some nice young freshman players that will contribute,” Krasnoff said.
One of those players is freshman forward Myajha Elston who will be relied on heavily by Krasnoff when the Panthers tip off the season Nov 18 against Wesleyan. “We have a lot of great new players that can contribute,” said Elston. “I think it’s great to start our season at home and build our fan base here so that when we travel we have motivation.”
The Panthers start the season with two non-conference games at home, then two on the road. Their first conference game of the season is at home against Sage on Dec 3. “We beat Sage all three times we played them in tight games last year,” said Krasnoff. “That’s not easy to do. Wesleyan will be a big test to start the season and Geneseo will be an even bigger test the game after.”
The Panthers were ranked third in the Skyline Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll behind Mount St. Mary and Farmingdale State, an assessment that Krasnoff is fine with.
“I think third is a fair assessment,” said Krasnoff. “It’s the highest we’ve ever been picked. I think the league is showing us some respect.”
While the Panthers will rely on their freshman, they will also rely on sophomore point guard Kim Weathers who won rookie of the year last year in her freshman season. They will also look for a big season out of seniors Abigail Williams (forward) and Denise Zajonc (guard) to lead the team. “We should be undefeated this year,” said Zajonc who is a team captain. “Losing in the conference semi-finals last year, hell yeah that’s motivation.”
The Panthers will also add depth on defense in the middle of the season when Jatiella Forde transfers from Monroe to join the team and play guard. “She’s won two National Championships,” Krasnoff said. “She’ll bring leadership and the experience of winning to our team.”
The Panthers will hope for both their youthful freshman and experienced seniors to lead their team through a tough schedule and what Krasnoff hopes will be their first conference win.
“This could be the most talented team I’ve had,” said Krasnoff. “But we’re young and I’m excited for the work we have to put in towards our goal of winning the conference and making it to the NCAA tournament.”