Season Outlook

The Golden Eagles will begin the 2020-21 season on Saturday afternoon at IU-Northwest. Head Coach Jessica Yonkers and the roster of three freshman, three sophomores, two juniors, and five seniors will look to improve from a 2019-20 season that ended with a 3-27 record. The Golden Eagles will play seven non-conference games before beginning conference play on November 17 against Rochester. 

Key Returners

Kennedy Helderop

After playing just six games in her freshman season before a season-ending injury, Helderop is poised to return to the lineup as a redshirt freshman. The guard put up double digit points in three of those six contests, and started all of them as a true freshman. 

Sterling DeGayner

DeGayner appeared in 29 games as a junior last year and averaged 6.3 points per game while shooting 33.2% from the field and 29% from beyond the arc. She also led the team with 85 assists and 33 steals last season.

Allyson Richards

The senior from Fruitport has appeared in 60 games over her career. In 22 games last year, Richards shot exactly 50% from the field and also pulled down 62 rebounds.

Shelby Nyboer

Nyboer started all 30 games last year and scored 363 points, good for 12.1 per game. Over her career, Shelby has scored 958 points, putting her just 42 points away from the 1,000 point threshold that only 26 players in Cornerstone history have reached. Nyboer scored 17 points against IU-Northwest as a sophomore in 2018.
 

New Faces

Katelyn Siebert

During her senior season at Lake Fenton, she led her team by averaging 13.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.7 steals a contest and won a district championship.

Layna Steele

Steele scored 13.9 points per game last year as a sophomore at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Maddison Fulks

The 5-foot-4 point guard finished her high school career as Bethesda Christian’s all-time leading scorer with 1,947 points. In addition to all-conference accolades, Fulks earned Indiana Basketball Coaches Association All-State honors.

Scouting IU-Northwest

IU-Northwest finished the 2019-20 season with an 11-19 overall record, and an 8-7 clip on their home court. Ryan Shelton is in his 14th season as head coach of the Breanna Boles led the team last year with 14.4 points per game. Michaela Schmidt averaged 10.9 points per game. Lauren Smolen averaged 8.1 points per game and a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game. Boles, Schmidt, and Smolen were all freshmen last year and are returning as sophomores this year.