GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Head Coach Jessica Yonkers and a young Golden Eagle women's basketball team are set to open the 2021-22 season with a two game week as they will take on a pair of Crossroads League foes. The week opens with a home match vs. Grace College on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before the team travels to Huntington on Saturday at 7 p.m. You can purchase tickets ahead of time for any Cornerstone women's basketball home game HERE and can find live video and stat links for all contests HERE.
2020-21 Recap
The Golden Eagles come into the 2021-22 year off the unique COVID-19 season where they played 22 games and went 7-15 on the year. Head Coach Jessica Yonkers led the team to their first conference tournament appearance in her three seasons as they finished seventh overall and lost in the WHAC Tournament Quarterfinal to Indiana Tech. Cornerstone comes into the 2021-22 season with a full 28 game schedule that starts vs. Grace College out of the Crossroads League on Tuesday, October 26 at 7 p.m.
New Faces with Cornerstone Connections
Cornerstone brings in seven true freshman this season to the roster and many of them have Cornerstone connections. Parrish Hudson and Stephanie Ainsworth each come to CU from Wayland Union HS where they were high school teammates and they are the younger siblings of Wes Hudson and Cory Ainsworth who each played or our currently on the CU men's basketball roster. Emma Costen has a similar story as she is the younger sister to CU men's basketball alum Riley Costen. Kelsey Richards is a sophomore who transferred into Cornerstone after a year at Spring Arbor and she is the younger sister of Taylor and Ally Richards who each played in the Cornerstone women's basketball program over the last five years.
Transfers
Head Coach Jessica Yonkers and the Golden Eagle staff are excited to bring in two transfers to the 2021-22 roster. A lot of talk has surrounded Mackenzie Stien who is a DII transfer out of the University of Indianapolis. Kesley Richards also transferred in from Spring Arbor and is another solid interior scorer that can contribute on a young Golden Eagle team.
Scouting Grace
The Lancers are coming off a 14-17 record in 2020-21 where they really struggled in conference play, going 2-14 in the Crossroads League. Grace is very young, just like the Golden Eagles with only one senior on the roster. The teams second leading scorer in Maddie Ryman returns to the team this season after scoring 13.1 PPG last year. Grace is a very guard heavy team and they love to shoot the three ball, as they shot 32.4% from behind the arc last season.
Scouting Huntington
The Foresters were solid in the unique 2020-21 year, with a 13-9, 9-7 conference record. Veteran Head Coach Lori Culler who is now in her 35th season at Huntington has just two seniors on the roster in 2021-22 and will be working with a young team. Sam Vaughn returns for her senior year and she is dominant on the defensive end as she ranked 12th in the NAIA last year with 3.09 steals per game. Huntington loves the three ball as well as they shoot 33.5% from behind the arc and took 400 attempts last season.
History vs. This Week's Opponents
Cornerstone and Grace have met six times in their history. Despite losing the last two matchups, CU is 4-2 all-time against the Lancers. This will be the third time in the last four years the two sides meet. Against Huntington, Cornerstone has gone just 1-6 all-time. CU won the first matchup in 2005-06 but has lost every matchup since including a 75-62 loss last year.
