A pair of familiar faces will join the Whitman College women’s basketball staff this season as head coach Michelle Ferenz has announced the additions of Lily Gustafson and Mikayla Ferenz as assistant coaches. Gustafson is an alumnae of the Blues basketball program and graduated from Whitman last spring after a stellar four-year career. Ferenz joins the Blues in the midst of a professional career overseas after a decorated career at the University of Idaho.
Gustafson played four seasons for the Blues, helping Whitman to a pair of Northwest Conference titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances. She was a key bench performer for her first three seasons, including the team’s NCAA Elite 8 run in 2017. Her final season, Lily was a co-captain and started 27 games, helping the Blues to a NWC regular season title and an appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16 before the tournament was halted due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Coach Ferenz kept it within the family in hiring Walla Walla High School graduate Mikayla Ferenz, one of the finest players to wear an Idaho Vandal uniform. At Idaho, she was a three-time all-conference selection and was named Big Sky Player of the Year as a senior. She exited as the program’s and the Big Sky Conference’s all-time leading scorer with 2,466 career points and soon took her game to the professional ranks. She began her career in Luxembourg and signed to play in Melbourne in the Australian NBL 1 League before the season was canceled due to the Coronavirus. She once again was playing in Luxembourg this Fall with BC Musel Pikes but returned home when her season was paused. She will return to her club when the league restarts again in early spring.
Gustafson and Ferenz join a Blues team that will be retaking the court for the first time in nearly a year after the November and December portions of their schedule were canceled due to the Coronavirus. Whitman opens the season Friday, Jan. 22 at Pacific Lutheran.
https://athletics.whitman.edu/news/2021/1/5/gustafson-ferenz-join-womens-basketball-staff.aspx
