Davis’ incoming class is complete

Steve Virgen

The Vanguard women’s basketball team, which bid farewell to six

seniors last season and will have no seniors this year, has completed

its recruiting with the additions of Rachel Besse and Jessica

Pasquale. The duo joins a group of newcomers who committed earlier,

including UC Irvine transfer Lisa Faulkner and freshmen Lacy Burns,

Lindsay McClellan and Kelly Schmidt.

Coach Russ Davis is pleased and excited about the six new players,

and said team chemistry will be important if the Lions are to follow

in the footsteps of last year’s team. Last season, the Lions won the

Golden State Athletic Conference and for the first time in school

history, they reached the final four in the NAIA national tournament.

“I feel like we’re going to be as good as we ever have been, as

long as we have good chemistry and no injuries,” Davis said. “We will

be young, but this will be one of the most talented teams we’ve ever

had, athletically speaking.”

Davis will look to Faulkner to provide leadership. She was a

two-year starter at point guard at UCI. She enters Vanguard as a

junior.

The 5-foot-5 Faulkner has above-average ball-handling skills and

earned all-Big West Conference honorable mention recognition last

year, finishing No. 14 in the nation with 6.5 assists per game. She

transferred because she wanted to strengthen her faith in her beliefs

at Vanguard, a university of Christian liberal arts and sciences,

Davis said.

In addition, Faulkner will be joining her friend, Lacey Mills, who

helped lead the Lions to the NAIA final four last year. Faulkner and

Mills also played together at Oregon City High.

Besse is a 6-3 center from Soldotna, Alaska. She earned all-state

laurels and was the runner-up for the Alaska High School Player of

the Year honor as a senior. Besse averaged double figures in points

and rebounds at Soldotna High and was the team’s MVP. She also played

volleyball and recorded a 3.0 grade point average, academically.

Pasquale attained a 4.0 GPA at Walled Lake Center High in

Commerce, Mich. The 2003 graduate will play basketball and compete in

track and field for the Lions, while pursuing a degree in

mathematics.

Davis attracted McClellan and Schmidt from Arizona, where both

were two-time all-state players. McClellan, a guard from Tempe,

graduated this spring from Corona del Sol High with a 3.36 GPA and

was a McDonald’s All-American nominee. She averaged 19.5 points and

5.3 assists per game.

Schmidt, a 6-foot guard/forward, scored over 2,000 points and

collected over 1,500 rebounds in her career at Ironwood High, where

she holds several individual career records. She carried a 3.87 GPA

and plans to major in education at Vanguard.

Burns graduated in June from San Clemente and will study to be a

teacher at Vanguard. She maintained a 3.1 GPA while earning all-CIF

second team honors as a senior guard/forward. She also received the

Coach’s Award at season’s end.