Photo Courtesy of SSU Sports Information

Shawnee State Sophomore forward Erin Dailey rises for a jump shot.

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Bob Strickley

PDT Sports Editor

Five games into the 2012-2013 season and the Shawnee State Women’s basketball team is looking every bit the part of a team that was selected as the No. 2 team in the NAIA preseason poll.

The Bears are undefeated and have won by an average of nearly 20 points per contest through the early stages of the season. This after having to replace two starters from the team that went 28-6 a season ago including one of the best SSU players in program history, Abby Ballman.

So far so good for coach Robin Hagen-Smith who is in her 30th season leading the Bears as the team has shown offensive balance through the first five contests with senior Schera Sampson and junior Alannah Sheets each averaging 11 points per contest with senior Alex Pohl chipping in an average of almost nine points a game.

The two new starters in the Bears’ lineup are literally fresh faces as Kara Long and Abby Feuchter are in their first seasons with the club and are in the process of learning their roles.

Long, who had a season-high nine points in Shawnee’s win over Mid-Continent Saturday, is a first-year student at SSU out of Wadsworth High School where she lettered three years in basketball and averaged 14 points as a senior forward.

Feucher hails from Cincinnati’s Colerain High School where she lettered four years in basketball and averaged 4.1 assists per contest her senior year.

Shawnee State’s toughest contest to date in the 2012 season was the 76-74 win the Bears earned over Trevecca Nazarene University at the Nov. 9 Georgetown Invitational.

After that narrow margin of victory, SSU followed with its the largest margin of victory since 2009 the next day, winning 86-42 against Mid-Continent.

The next up for the Bears are the 18th ranked Patriots of the University of the Cumberlands Thursday evening at Frank and Janis Waller Gymnasium.

Information from Shawnee State Sports Information contributed to this report.

Bob Strickley can be reached at 353-3101, ext. 298, or bstrickley@heartlandpublications.com.