The Ravens are 15-3 on the season and leading the Colonial States Athletic Conference with a 9-0 league mark. A road 82-47 dismantling of Notre Dame of Maryland on Tuesday was Rosemont's tenth consecutive win, a program record. They need three more wins to set the program record for victories in a single season (went 17-9 in 2012-13).
Rosemont is coached by Rayne Reber and she had a good feeling that her team was ready to take a big step forward this season.
"I have a group of girls that are a lot older," she said. "I have some senior leadership, girls that have been in the program now for four years and I finally feel like I had the team that I recruited and the team that I've wanted with the style of play that we've been working hard for. Before the season even started, I was really looking forward to conference play because, not only did we have a successful season last year (15-11), I knew I was gaining a lot coming in this year, so it was a lot to look forward to."
The Ravens outscore opponents by more than 18 points a game on average and out-rebound them by 10. Reber breaks down the style that has led to this dominance.
"Our girls like to run. They like to get out and run," she said. "If they cannot set up a play they would prefer not to set up a play. They like to get defensive stop after defensive stop and just get up and down the court and run so they don't have to set up a play. But the nice thing about this team is they are very well-disciplined where they know when to slow it down and pull it out and set something up and when we do run things, we run it to perfection. So it's great to watch them be able to get up and down the floor and run and defend, but then also slow it down and run sets."
From an individual standpoint, the Ravens have several players getting it done. Senior point guard Ayanna Thompson is the program's all-time leader in assists (and it's not close) with 474. This season she is averaging 5.7 a game with a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Junior guard/forward Ke'alohilani Naone-Carter is averaging 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds a game and she is just 10 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Then there is 6'3" senior center Ashley Murray. The Imhotep Charter High School grad is a transfer from Division I Texas Southern and she has made an immediate impact this season, leading the team in scoring (15.2 ppg) and rebounding (10.9 rpg).
Murray says those rebounding numbers are really important to her.
"That's my biggest thing," she said. "I've always been a rebounder all my life. And defense, I try to start with defense and then hopefully my offense comes after."
Reber says Murray's impact on the program goes beyond what you see in games.
"She comes to practice and she has an incredibly hard work ethic," Reber said. "But the most important thing that she has is she is able to compete with these girls and get a competitiveness out of them, but yet also be positive. So when we're scrimmaging, she's the first one to want to go down to that block and go to work on somebody. But she also then bounces back and says, 'Okay, it's your turn now, come at me.' And as soon as they make a good move, she's the first one to high five them and tell them, 'Nice job, but now I'm coming back at you.' So she's inspired this competitiveness where they want to compete against each other, but they also want each other to succeed."
Murray says it didn't take long for her to see that the Ravens had something special.
"During preseason, during our runs, during our scrimmages we just got up and down the court and we just played well together," she said. "So we created a connection early and it's been building ever since."
This has already been an outstanding season stat and win wise for Murray. But it's something else from this season that's had the biggest impact on her.
"The relationships I've made here in one short year, definitely," she said. "Coach Rayne is the best coach I've had so far, and I just love everything about Rosemont honestly and the program and my teammates as well."
Murray and Rosemont return to the court on Saturday afternoon with a home game against Keystone.