The Concordia women's basketball team opens a new era with a new head coach in Rusty Rogers, who brings with him 30 years of basketball coaching experience, 16 of them at the collegiate level where he is 300-193. He has also coached 14 years at the high school level where he is 338-149. Rogers has coached two NAIA Division II national championship teams at Western Oregon University in 1995 and 1996. Assistant coach Melissa (Schwab) Taylor "has been a blessing and made the transition easy," said Rogers.
 
"We are hoping to play a unique style for this conference," says Rogers. "Hopefully, people will be patient because it takes time to completely install a new style. It will not be the same team at the end of the season once the implementation takes hold."
 
BACKCOURT
Rogers describes the Cougars' backcourt as "the strength of our team this year." The team returns two players that saw a lot of playing time in the 2013-14 season. This gives the Cougars a blend of experience and youth. "Because of our overall lack of size we will have to be creative with the players on the court as we may play three or four-guard sets," says Rogers.
 

• Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) and Divinity Stephens (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor) bring veteran leadership and court experience.
• Hailey Lindblom (Minneapolis, MN/Richfield) missed her freshman year through injury and has been cited as the best defensive guard in practice. She is gaining her confidence back every time she gets on the court.
• Freshman Courtney Lofink (Orange, CA/Orange Lutheran) and freshman Jaela DeJean (Houston, TX/Houston Christian) have had excellent preseasons so far.
• Freshman twins Taylor Jacobsen and Erin Jacobsen (Aurora, IL/West Aurora) "don't play like freshmen," according to Rogers. They are fearless and the challenge will be to find time in the rotation.
• Kaely Fitterling (Bridgeton, MO/Pattonville) joined the team a bit late coming off soccer season, but has picked up a lot in a short amount of time. Her energy and passion are great.
• Keiandra Scott (St. Louis, MO/Lutheran North) is a good teammate and a pleasure to coach. She really pushes her teammates in practice.

FRONT COURT
"We are small, but we have kids that play bigger than their size," says Rogers.
 

• Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran) is our only senior and unquestionably our leader. "In my 30 years of coaching, it is rare to see a leader that sets such a great example," says Rogers. She is a steady player and a steady, albeit quiet, leader.
• Angelik Young (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee), when healthy, elevates the entire team with her play. The team is different when she is out on the floor setting the tone.
• Sophomores Lauren Orr (O'Fallon, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) and Miranda Rogers (Cypress, TX/Houston Christian) saw a lot of playing time as freshmen. Their strength is outside shooting, but they will also spread the floor and hold their own inside.
• Shania Kiser (Fremont, OH/Fremont Ross) and Marisia Robinson-Bannister (Waukegan, IL/Waukegan) are newcomers to the program this year. They will be needed this year especially on the defensive end of the court.
• Ashley Fischer (Oswego, IL/Oswego) is a good kid that works hard in every practice fighting for playing time.
• Hannah Rummel (Fenton, MI/Lake Fenton) and Ashley Cross (Kalamazoo, MI/Comstock) have been hit hard by injuries this year. Their prospects for playing this season are uncertain at this time.

 SCHEDULE
The Cougar women will open up the 2014-15 season with five consecutive home games. The opening match on Nov. 15 is against non-conference foe Lawrence University followed by the University of Illinois-Springfield on Nov. 19. After a week to prepare, the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener is on Tuesday, November 25 against rival Concordia Wisconsin. Much of the remaining schedule will feature NACC games except for Dec. 30 in Minnesota at the College of St Catherine's and, of course, the Concordia Invitational Tournament. This year's CIT is being hosted in Ann Arbor on Jan. 30-31. After CIT, there are five more conference games to close out the regular season. The final regular season game is against Division Street rival Dominican University on February 17.

The conference tournament commences Feb. 21 as the top eight teams battle for the conference tournament championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA tourney.