MILWAUKEE – The 2017-18 basketball season is at its end. The Mount Mary University basketball team finished 8-13 in a season filled with multiple individual accolades. In addition, a long-time Blue Angel finished her collegiate career atop a majority of the program's all-time highs.
Starting off the season with four straight games against Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opponents, the Blue Angels had a tough task set at the beginning of their trek. Battling through the gauntlet of games against the regional foes, MMU found their first victory against former NACC school and current Association of Division III rival, Maranatha Baptist University (10-14).
MMU saw a sudden spark from soon to be freshman sensation Erica Williams (Bloomington, Ill.) who guided the Blue Angels to 10-2 run to begin the game against the rival Sabercats. That early lead coupled with the offensive output from starters Becky Onan (Sr./Grafton, Wis.) and Rae Grubbs (So./Covington, Ind.) yielded a 60-54 victory over the Sabercats and the Blue Angels first win of the season.
Momentum from the victory over MBU carried over to the next game for the Blue Angels. In particular, Erica Williams seem to propel her team to their next win over Grace Bible College (11-16) in early December of 2017. Williams astounded those in attendance pulling down 15 rebounds and three steals, in addition to scoring 30 points shooting 14-of-16 from the field. That performance led to a 58-52 win over the Tigers and an eventual Association of Division III Independents women's basketball Player of the Month.
"The early season back-to-back wins over Maranatha and Grace Bible stand out," recalls Mount Mary University Basketball Coach Marc Heidorf in talking about the 2017-18 season. "We had played a couple of games to that point and not done so great. Just when it started to look like it could be a 'one step forward, one step back' kind of year we got those two wins and showed ourselves what we were capable of."
The Blue Angels continued to work through the season and found their next win streak in mid-January. In a very close back-and-forth contest, the Blue Angels climbed back from down ten points in the third quarter against Andrews University (9-10) to escape with a 57-55 win.
That 2-point win against the Cardinals in Berrien Springs, Mich. expanded to a lopsided 64-34 triumph for the Blue Angels when AU returned to the Bloechl Center just four days later. Erica Williams did what she did eight other times that season against the Cardinals and pulled down a double-double with 17 points and 18 rebounds; Cardinal forward Kia Williams also recorded a double-double in that same contest.
The Blue Angels went on to then defeat their longtime rival Illinois Tech twice in the remaining schedule. Along with finishing the last leg of the season 4-4, the Blue Angels saw one of their most decorated members close out her final games. That bittersweet stretch saw senior Becky Onan score her 1000th point in a 77-65 win over Finlandia University (5-21).
Onan went on to finish the season, and her collegiate career, on top of multiple statistical categories. Now the all-time career leader in points, assists, defensive rebounds, total rebounds, steals, blocks and minutes played Onan has definitely made her mark in her four years at Mount Mary University.
With her season credentials rating her top ten in every major per game category, Onan was elected to the AD3I All-Association Second Team at the season's closing. Onan was not the only MMU representative on this year's All-Association teams however.
Williams finished the season leading the AD3I in offensive rebounds, total rebounds, and shooting percentage. The young forward hit an even 50.0 percent from the field while she averaged 11.4 points per game, which was top ten in the association. Her averages equated to Williams averaging a double-double on the season with 10.8 rebounds. Both her offensive and total rebounds set a new single-season record for MMU.
Rae Grubbs' offensive abilities continued to develop all season long and hit full stride against Grace Bible in MMU's second contest against the Tigers. The hard-fought battle led to a loss for the Blue Angels, but Rae Grubbs never gave in, as she hit 7-of-9 from 3-point territory to score a season high 21 points.
That performance from Grubbs also set the school's single-game mark for made 3-point field goals. Continuing to hit from outside all season long led to Grubbs eventually tying the school's single-season mark for 3-point field goals made at 37.
Both Grubbs and Williams season resume led to them being members of the Association of Division III Independents All-Association First Team.
Brooke Uebersetzig (Greenwood, Ind.) continued her sophomore season at the guard position. The second-year point guard worked her way to 2.8 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 7.8 points per game. Uebersetzig continued to work on her shot all season as well as distributing the ball. In her final four games, Uebersetzig hit 11-of-30 from outside the 3-point arch.
Lucy Pavelko (So./Muskego, Wis.) started in all 21 games this season. Averaging 33.5 minutes per game, the young guard made a big leap forward from her freshman season where she averaged 24 minutes per game. This year Pavelko saw an improvement in nearly every statistical category, but saw a big lift in her assists this season with the elevated play.
Working from the bench, freshmen Kaylie Cook (Fr./Fairborn, Ohio) averaged 3.5 points per game and 1.0 assists per game, Trinity Jackson-Branch (Fr./Madison, Wis.) averaged 1.2 points per game and 1.8 rebounds per game, Kirsten George (Fr./Fairborn, Ohio) finished the season with 1.5 points per game and 0.4 blocks per contest. Tamara Griffin (Fr./Champaign, Ill.) continued to supply support in her five games played this season and went 1-of-1 from the field.
"Despite not having a senior, it is likely that the 18-19 squad will be our most experienced," added Heidorf. "The expectation that comes with that is for less peaks and valleys as it pertains to our output. The kids know what they need to do. If they are able to put up similar or slightly better numbers in say, 28 minutes/game vs. the 36-40 they were getting this year then we could be in pretty good shape."
Follow the Blue Angels and get all the latest news all offseason long at mtmaryathletics.com.
