Dena Droste feels right at home at Ferris State University.
The Bulldog women’s basketball team is looking for Droste to fit in this season and help out the squad.
Droste made her debut for Ferris in an exihibition game in early November against Michigan State University, which Ferris lost 100-52. Droste started at guard, and in 19 minutes of action, she was 3 of 8 from the floor, 0 for 4 in 3-pointers, and 1 of 6 at the free-throw line for seven points. She also had two assists and three rebounds.
“It was a real learning experience for us,” she said. “It was cool to play a Big Ten team, a team a lot of us are familiar with. We found out a lot of things about our team, what will work and what will not work. I think we learned that we’ll battle to the end.”
Droste is impressed with the depth of the Bulldogs. “We’ll have a ton of athletes on our team,” she said. “All the players on our team work so hard. We’re all competitors. We all want to win. That will carry us a long way.”
She’s a red-shirt sophomore who played for the Kent State University Golden Flashes on the Division I level during the 2011-12 season. She averaged 2.9 points and 2.0 rebounds per contest during 252 minutes of court time. “After the season was complete, I decided I was going to transfer,” she said. “This is my second year at Ferris but will be my first season of playing. I red-shirted last year due to an injury.” She has three years of eligibility remaining.
When she decided to transfer, Droste was looking for schools of interest. “Ferris interested me because of the health administration major,” she said. “That was the major I was looking into. I talked to a lot of people about the basketball team here. I didn’t hear negative things. A lot of people say they’re like family, but this team really means it.
“It’s a great environment, that’s what made me come.”
Ferris was was making a coaching transition while Droste was searching for a school. She finalized her decision when Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate got the job.
Coach Lamoreaux-Tate anticipates Droste being in the top seven or eight. “She’ll have a major role,” Lamoreaux-Tate said. “She can shoot and she can drive. She has stepped up her defense and everything. She’s gotten physically strong.”
Lamoreaux-Tate pointed out that Droste became a coach of sorts while she was redshirted last season. “We’re definitely on the same page,” Lamoreaux-Tate said. “We had respect for each other, and she buys into my program and my style and what I believe in.
“She has that leadership. People really listen to her. She’s like a coach out on the floor.”
Said Droste, “I feel like this year, hopefully, on the court, I can be that extended coach and help everybody else on the floor, whether it be like being another Colleen out there, or driving or scoring buckets, or whatever the team wants me to do, that will be my role. It will change depending on the game.”
Against Michigan State, Droste looked like “a fish out of water,” Lamoreaux-Tate said. “It was her first competition in two years. That’s the only time we could play Michigan State. She was not herself. But in practice, she’s been showing her true abilities.”
On the high school level, Droste averaged more than 20 points per game her senior year at DeWitt High School. She totaled 252 minutes of playing time and was an all-stater in 2010. She had 18 points in an MHSAA state semifinal game as a sophomore .
Droste was also a talented golfer at DeWitt and finished fifth at the 2009 MHSAA Division 3 state tournament and helped her team to a third-place finish. She also helped DeWitt place third at the 2008 MHSAA Division 2 Girls Golf Tournament as a freshman and fifth at the 2010 Division 3 tournament.
This year, Droste will try to utilize her 3-point shooting abilities to help Ferris. “My mid-range game can contribute to the team,” she said.
Droste sees plenty of potential in a Ferris team that was 13-13 last season. “We have a lot of returners from last year and also a decent amount of freshmen,” she said. “Our freshmen are catching on really fast. I feel like this team has a ton of potential. We can do some really good things this year.”
Droste is confident the Bulldogs can be title contenders. “There’s a lot of strong teams in the conference,” she said. “Ashland, the national champions last year, are on the other side of the GLIAC. They’ll be a team we look forward to playing. Grand Valley is a rival. That’s a fun game to play. They have a lot of talent. Every night, we have to come ready to go. It’s a strong league. There’s a lot of talent.”