By BUTCH HARMON
After transferring closer to her DeWitt home last year, Ferris State University redshirt sophomore Dena Droste was excited to start her career for the Bulldogs.
However, those hopes were shattered when she suffered a knee injury that resulted in her missing the entire season. And Droste was not the only Bulldog on the Ferris women’s basketball team with a disappointing year, as a rash of injuries ruined what had been a promising season for the Bulldogs.
This year Droste, along with her teammates, are healthy, and Ferris has its sights set on a return to the NCAA tournament after struggling to a 13-13 record last year.
“I’m pretty close to 100 percent now,” Droste said. “We have a real positive outlook on the season. We have a lot of returnees from last year, and the girls that were injured are healthy and ready to go. We have a ton of talent, and we are really excited about the year.”
Droste will be playing for the first time since suiting up for Kent State University during the 2011-2012 season. Droste spent one year at Kent State, and she played in 17 games and averaged 2.9 points and two rebounds per game for the Golden Flash of the Mid-American Conference.
Droste fine-tuned her game during the year away and comes back a more well-rounded guard, who is ready to step into a big role for the Bulldogs.
“Dena has been shooting the lights out,” Ferris coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate said, “but she has added another part to her game in the last year. She has worked on her skill set and has enhanced her game by becoming better at driving to the bucket. I would not let her shoot outside shots at practice and made her just drive to the basket. She shoots enough outside of practice that I made her concentrate on driving during practice, and it has really added to her game. Now, not only can she score from outside, but she can drive to the basket, and that just made her much more of a dangerous player.”
Droste also used the time on the sidelines last year to work on the mental part of the game, as she studied her new coach who came to Ferris State last year after a long and successful high school coaching career in West Michigan.
“Last year I got hurt, but I had the opportunity to sit on the bench with coach and I saw how she coached,” Droste said. “She allowed me in the huddles and I got to see firsthand how she coaches and her style. This year that is going to help me, as I will be able to be a coach on the floor, because I know what coach wants. I will be more of a leader for her.”
A coaching change was responsible for Droste making her way back to Michigan after a year at Kent State.
“They had a coaching change at Kent State after my freshman year, and I didn’t see myself fitting in with the new coaching style,” Droste said. “I started looking around at schools in Michigan. I’m a health and administration major, and Ferris is known for that. I did my research, and Ferris had everything you could ask for. It is a family-orientated program, and it’s perfect for me. I love it here. I absolutely love it.”
Droste is not the only key player that Ferris lost to injury last year, as fellow redshirt sophomore Christina Branch, a 6’2″ forward, missed almost all of last year with an injury, as well. Branch was the GLIAC Freshman of the Year two years ago, as she averaged 9.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in helping Ferris make the NCAA tournament.
Ferris also welcomes back senior guard Sarah DeShone. DeShone is a first-team preseason all-GLIAC guard who averaged 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists last season.