The Lady Lions started their regular season games this weekend. Their lineup includes junior captains Bailey Kaufman and Shá Sanders, sophomores Laura Sneed and Serena Tuomi, senior Christina Lewis, and freshmen Callie Donaghue and Haley Althouse. Kaufman, Sanders and Lewis are the only returning players from the previous year.

Jonathan Ogeleza is the new head coach with Megan Starnes as his assistant. Last season, Bill Mangarelli was the coach for The King’s College men’s and women’s basketball teams.

King’s beat Webb University last Saturday, 55-21. Tuomi led the team with 17 points, eight 2-pointers and a free throw. Sanders and Sneed poured in 11 points and Kaufman scored nine points.

“The first game felt like a breeze. We were flowing and working out the kinks and it felt good for our first game win,” Kaufman said. “Then we had a game the next day, still a little sore and it felt like each one of us were getting beat up. One of our players is injured and it’s always hard to get a large bench especially in girls basketball.”

Donaghue suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter, but finished the game with five points.

“[The injury] was disheartening considering we have a small team this season, but we managed to pull together and still play through both games this weekend,” said Sneed in an email to the EST. “I am hopeful for the season and hopefully we’ll have a few more girls join the team so we can play stronger the rest of the reason.”

Serena Tuomi shoots one of two foul shots against Webb University. || Photo credit to Christina Lewis.

The ladies played Yeshiva University the next day with less success. The final score was 72-46. Donaghue had 13 points and went 6-11 on free throws. Sanders went 5-6 at the free throw line and had 12 points. Tuomi gave the Lady Lions 11 points and Kaufman poured in 10 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Pasha Goz, Tyler Bowens, Andrew Pelaschier, Zachary Moeller, and Ty Hutchins play defense against Webb University on Saturday afternoon. || Photo credit to Kaitlyn Simon

The men’s basketball team kicked off their season with two wins on the road, due to the team have some promising players to leverage in the coming season.

The season’s lineup includes six returning juniors and sophomores and two new freshmen recruits, two transfer students and two returning students who did not play last year. Nick Swedick is the new head coach for the men’s team.

Sweddick believes that this team has a good mix of returning players and new players.

“We [the team] are young. With no seniors on the team I believe this team will grow together over the next two to three years and achieve accomplishments that our men's basketball program have not reached yet (i.e. making the conference playoffs, having winning seasons, etc.),” said Sweddick in an email to the EST.

Rising players to keep an eye on include: a junior at King’s, Jesse Filho, sophomore Tyler Bowens, freshman Andrew Pelaschier.

King’s beat Webb University 74-15 on Saturday, starting the season off with a strong win. Bowens and Pelaschier led a powerful offense while sophomore Ben Oldham held the defensive line as the center. Filho suffered a late ankle injury and was unable to finish the game.

The next day, the team traveled to Culinary Institute, where they won 45-39. Bowens scored 13 points, shooting 6-11 from the free throw line. Pelaschier had nine points, 13 rebounds, and five blocks in total. Sophomore Jordan Bishop put in eight points, shot 4-9 from the line, and had 11 rebounds.

This weekend, the Lady Lions will play at Albany College of Pharmacy on Sunday at 1 p.m. while the men’s team will compete at Cooper Union on Friday at 8 p.m.

TKC Lions Basketball Season: New Coaches, New Players and New Season