Rowan Women's Hoops, An NJAC Force
GLASSBORO, N.J., (CBS) -- The 2015-16 season has been an incredibly successful one so far for the Division III Rowan University women's basketball program down in Glassboro, New Jersey.
The Profs are 13-1 and they sit alone at the top of the New Jersey Athletic Conference standings with a 7-0 league mark as they get ready to visit William Patterson on Wednesday night.
"We feel like we have great chemistry on our team," Rowan head coach Gabby Lisella tells KYW Newsradio."They're a loose group of kids that work hard together, work hard for each other and they have a lot of fun while they do it. I mean I think that's a great combination for success."
Listen to the entire interview with Rowan's Gabby Lisella:
The Profs like to force the issue. They are averaging 81.2 points a game this season which is good for 9th in the nation and last time out, in a win over Kean, they hung triple-figures on the board (winning 103-97). Rowan also forces more than 25.2 turnovers a game, which is 13th in all of Division III.
"We want to play an aggressive style," Lisella says. "We look first and foremost to fast break. We press the entire game pretty much, so I do think that sets us up to play a very quick tempo, hopefully gets us a lot of possessions and we convert them into higher scores."
Another key to Rowan's success is a roster which features an exceptional amount of experience.
"I think one of the things that's very unique is we have three graduate students playing for us," Lisella says. "It's odd that you get three graduate students, you may get some fifth-year players, but our kids are disciplined enough, they graduated on time, they're good students. So I do think that that is rare. We've got some maturity on our team, some experience on our team. That, combined with some kids that are coming in and filling some of the gaps that we may have had in the past, really sets us up."
All three of those grad students play key roles for the Profs, with all three having started all 14 games this season. Guard/forward Kaitlin Schullstrom leads the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game. Forward Kate Matthews, is second on the Profs in scoring (11.4 ppg) and tops on the team in rebounding (12.5 a game). Guard/forward Melissa Lake is 4th on the squad in scoring (9.0 ppg) and second in rebounding (6.4 per game).
Rowan's Wednesday night match-up with William Patterson up in Wayne, New Jersey, will tip-off at 6:00 pm.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.