BETHLEHEM, Pa. – When the Moravian College women's basketball team exited the ECAC South Regional tournament with a loss in the championship game last season, the old adage, "There's always next year," simply wasn't good enough.
The Greyhounds, who return 12 players and four starters from that team in 2013-14, said instead, "There's always tomorrow."
Twenty-seventh year head coach Mary Beth Spirk and the Moravian women got right back to work preparing for a championship run.
"When you're a young team, everyone is enthused and excited," said Spirk, who is only 13 wins away from 500 for her illustrious career. "Now with added experience, they know what happened to them last year. They know what it takes to go even farther by treating each and every game like a championship. The strength so far is the energy and enthusiasm on this team. We're playing more as a team, instead of individually."
The team aspect may be the last piece to the championship puzzle, because individually, the Greyhounds boast a formidable lineup of stat sheet stuffers. Leading that group are senior captains Katie O'Rourke and Danielle Brogan.
O'Rourke, entering her second year as captain and starting point guard, led the team in assists with 129 and steals with 69 one year ago, when she was named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team. She also paced the Hounds in minutes played at 31.1 per game and added averages of 11.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. O'Rourke is six assists and 14 steals away from cracking the top 10 in both categories in Moravian history. However, the most integral aspect of O'Rourke's game has no destination in the statistics book.
"She's our glue," Spirk said. "She's one of the best athletes on the court and a great leader both in and out of the gym. I'm expecting her to continue that role and even raise it up a notch this season. As a coach, I can't be on the court during a game, so the players look to Katie. Everybody reacts to her."
Brogan, a sharp-shooting off-guard, led the Greyhounds from downtown last season, sinking 48 three-point field goals while averaging 8.0 points per game. As a junior, she only took 18 trips to the free-throw line, but turned in a team-best .778 percentage from the charity stripe.
"She has the capability to string a bunch of dominant games together," Spirk said. "That's what we're looking for from her this year; consistency. She's fit and she's had a great summer. She knows now is the time."
Spirk also lauded the leadership from seniors Ericka Blair, Laura Jordan and Alyssa Hann, who all played significant minutes for Moravian last year and expect to reprise those roles in 2013-14. Jordan played in every game for the Hounds and was third on the team in scoring at 8.9 points per game while adding 6.4 rebounds per game.
Junior forward Alexis Wright, the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year in 2011-12, took the league by storm over the past two seasons. Her skills are no secret anymore, as her reputation as a tenacious rebounder and scorching scorer have drawn double and triple-team defensive schemes on a regular basis.
She paced the Hounds offensively last season by averaging a double-double with 16.5 points per game and 11.2 rebounds per game, garnering All-Conference First Team and WBCA All-America Honorable Mention awards. Wright also led the team in blocks with 66 and added 55 steals to prove no statistical record is safe if she continues on this career path.
"As a coach, you feel blessed to have someone like her," Spirk said of Wright, whose 326 rebounds last season went down as the second highest single-season total in school history. "She's so gifted and she's a great kid, too. She's so athletic, and what we want from her is to actually try to dominate a game more. She has the ability to take a game over, and she's starting to learn that."
Reigning Landmark Conference Co-Rookie of the Year Alesha Marcks, a sophomore, also returns to the Greyhounds after playing 29 games and averaging 6.0 points per contest last season. She looks to crack the starting lineup this year as a guard/forward swing player. Sophomore guards Emily MacDonnell and Karine Polgar also return to Moravian, rounding out a deep Greyhound backcourt.
Spirk listed the team's strength as an unflinching enthusiasm for the game, and the veteran head coach is pushing her squad to make that last throughout full 40-minute games. That kind of sustained energy will be necessary to survive a grueling non-conference schedule, which begins in Texas this weekend, and the annual gauntlet through the competitive Landmark Conference.
"There were games last year that we thought we had won and took the foot off the gas," Spirk said. "That kind of mentality hurt us in the past, so we're going to try and avoid that at all costs. We're going to find out right away what we have going to Texas. We don't have time to relax with this schedule. We want to play the best so we can be the best. The energy level on this team really helps that cause."
The Greyhounds were selected to win the Landmark Conference in the 2013-14 preseason poll of the league's head coaches. Spirk neglected to deem the selection as an obligatory "target on the back," instead treating it as a challenge and overall endgame for the Greyhounds.
The head coach also admitted that the goal for this season is to win a conference championship and book a trip to the NCAA tournament, which was last done in 2010.
This year's version of the Greyhounds hopes to add its own chapter in an already voluminous storybook that is the tradition of Moravian women's basketball. The folklore is not a secret; the hardware, plaques, medals and photos are littered throughout Spirk's office and Johnston Hall, the home of the Hounds. Spirk says there is always room for more.
"They know what the past has brought," Spirk said. "They want their own banner. I want this group to experience that. I know how great it feels to cut down a net; that's what I enjoy watching at the end of a season, and hopefully I can watch this team do the same thing."
The Greyhounds begin that journey at the Southwestern University Tournament in Texas this weekend. Moravian takes on Trinity University on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. (6 CST) before facing the host school on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. (7 CST).
You can follow live stats of the season-opening tournament at http://livestats.prestosports.com/southwestern/. Follow @MCGreyhounds on Twitter and @moravianathletics on Instagram for live updates throughout the weekend.
