New additions improve team

KELLY MCKEE STAFF WRITER KMM732@CABRINI EDU

Cabrini’s women’s basketball team has recruited several new players in their quest for the title of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference champions. It is said that a change will do you good, but fans will have to wait until the Lady Cavaliers season officially gets underway on Sunday, Nov. 28, with their first game against the Knights at King’s College, to see if this will be the case.

“The court is my safe-haven,” Erin Lagarenne, a freshman recruit, said. With a strong history in basketball, from early childhood to high school championships playing for Voorhees High School, N.J., Lagarenne finds her stressed relieved when she plays. “When I’m on the court I just feel better,” Lagarenne said. “It’s like playing takes my mind of everything else.”

Another freshman recruit,

Sharae Middlebrook, agrees with this philosophy. “I feel relieved when I play,” Middlebrook said. Playing since fifth grade, Middlebrook competed at Championship level for her high school, Central High School, Pa.

Both girls are looking forward to the beginning of the season immensely and have been training hard to prepare. In addition they both feel they can bring elements to the team, which will strengthen their game.

‘I am going to bring energy to the team, which sometimes is lacking,” Middlebrook said. Recruited to the basketball world by a fifth grade physical education coach, the freshman has enjoyed success in her career, winning many tournaments throughout high school. “I am excited to be playing for my college team and will be really disappointed if we don’t make it to the PACs,” Middlebrook said.

Determination also oozes from Lagarenne who claims she will bring “intensity” to the team. Coming from a family deeply entwined with the game, including an Aunt who played for a Division I team, Lagarenne learned to value the importance of a strong team at an early age.

“When I am out there, on the court, I am out there to contribute to the team,” Lagarenne said. Believing greatly in teamwork she trusts that by coming together the Lady Cavs have a strong chance of succeeding this year. “It would be pretty amazing to be a freshman and win the PACs,” Lagarenne said.

An issue both girls expressed comments on was the difference in treatment given to the men’s basketball team over the women’s team. Lagarenne feels the men get more attention from the athletics department and from fans merely because there are more of them.

However Middlebrook feels more strongly about this issue. “The men’s team always gets more attention,” she said. “They get more trips away and more practice time; they will always come before us.”

An indication of Cabrini’s future sporting representatives, these girls showcase the charisma and determination needed in a winning team. And if Lagarenne and Middlebrook have anything to do with it, maybe one day it will be the men’s team complaining about being left behind.