Felician Athletics - 11/8/06 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - Felician Opens 0-3 at Disney Classic

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The Felician women's basketball team opened its season earlier than most of its counterparts over the weekend with its attendance at Disney's Division II Tip-Off Classic.

Played at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., the three-day event exposed the Golden Falcons to some of the best Division II competition in the nation. Their three opponents had a combined 2005-06 won-lost record of 72-21, and all three received votes in this year's preseason national coaches poll. Friday's season-opening opponent, West Texas A&M University, made the poll at No. 11.

Second year head coach Jay Latko played a regular rotation of 12 players, just five of whom were on last year's squad. The inexperience and quality of the opposition eventually displayed itself in the three losses, but the exempted tournament gave the Golden Falcons three extra chances to experience game action.

In Saturday's loss to Northeast Regional opponent Stonehill College, junior Crystal Ferrer (Bronx, NY/Redemption Christian, a transfer from SUNY-Cobleskill, had 10 points and 10 rebounds for her team's first double-double of the young season. The next day, in a setback to Augustana (S.D.) College, another Cobleskill transfer, Dee Dee Smith (Monticello, NY/Monticello) shook off early struggles to post 17 points and nine rebounds, and senior Rochelle Forbes (Montreal, Quebec/Riverdale) grabbed 11 rebounds.

Ferrer leads the Golden Falcons with 7.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Smith is averaging 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 16.7 minutes.

Felician has nine more days of practice before traveling to the Bryan University Tip-Off in Smithfield, R.I., November 17-18. Its first opponent there, American International College, was the 2006 national runner-up and is ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll.