Molloy aims for consistency

In recent years, the Molloy women’s basketball team has struggled in achieving consistency both on the court and on the sidelines. The Lady Lions have appeared in just one postseason game over the past three campaigns, and now this fall introduce their third head coach since 2012. 

But this time around Molloy has turned to a familiar face to help try and change the program’s fortunes. After coaching at the school nearly a decade ago, Joe Pellicane is back at the helm, with the goal of bringing stability and a winning culture to the Lady Lions. 

“The attitude of the team has been terrific. We have willing workers, and kids that certainly want to succeed,” Pellicane said. “We want to go forward and progress as a team, and put the cornerstones in not just for this year, but the cornerstones that will be lasting the next several years.”

While the future is very much on Pellicane’s mind, he does have a strong core of senior players to work with on this year’s roster.

Senior forward Ally Leftridge returns for Molloy, after starting 22 games last season, in which she averaged 10.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest. 

Senior guard Alexia O’Connor is another returning starter.  She led the team in three-point field goal percentage last year, draining 43 of 101 shot attempts from behind the arc.

Also back for Molloy are two key players who made an impact coming off the bench last season — senior forward Kimani Jackson and senior guard Alex Hampton. Jackson led the team in points per game, while Hampton provided a strong all-around game for the club. Junior Aliyah McDonald will also have an impact.

“Any time you have the quality of seniors like we do, that’s extremely important,” Pellicane said. “(Our seniors) have been a joy to coach, and have provided very good leadership. We’ve dedicated the season to our four seniors, because they’ve been through a lot. They’ve been here with three different coaches, so any success we have we want to dedicate it to them.”