PIKE CREEK, Del. – November 16, 2007 marked the head coaching debut of Goldey-Beacom's Jen Carleton as well as the collegiate basketball debuts of four eager freshmen.The Lightning lost that game 68-67 on a running one-handed bank shot by West Chester's Catherine Andrews with 2.2 seconds left. They would go on to finish that season 11-16 and miss the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference playoffs.
But little did they know, Carleton and this group of raw, but talented freshmen were setting the foundation for something special at Goldey-Beacom.
It took until Carleton's third year in 2009-10 to put the pieces of the puzzle in place, but the result was worth the wait, as the Lightning, with no seniors on the roster, reached the CACC semifinals for the first time since 2007.
The 2009-10 campaign also saw GBC nearly double its 2008-09 season win total with 17 wins and earn the program's first two wins over Philadelphia University after beating the Rams at the Gallagher Center twice within a week, including in the CACC quarterfinals. The Lightning also earned their first season-sweep of crosstown rival Wilmington University since the 2006-07 season with two thrilling victories, both by the identical score of 70-67.
Now here we are in the 2010-11 season, and for the second straight year, the Lightning will embark next week on a quest for the school's first CACC championship as the No. 3 seed out of the South Division.
Along the way, they earned unquestionably the biggest upset victory in program history when they ended CACC powerhouse Holy Family's 110-game conference win streak and 71-game home win streak at the Campus Center on Jan. 13. It was Goldey-Beacom's first program victory over HFU and its first victory over a ranked opponent.
At the forefront of all this success has been that group of freshmen who stuck together through thick-and-thin the past four years. Amber Gullickson, Arielle Alford, Janae Weldon and Jacinda Jones (who still has one more year of eligibility because she missed the 2008-09 season), were all in the lineup that fateful day against West Chester, and they are all still here at GBC to this day. They have become the winningest class of women's basketball players in school history with 51 wins.
Gullickson, Alford, Weldon and third-year transfer addition Megan Knowles will play their final game at the Joseph West Jones Center on Wed. night against Philadelphia University at 6 p.m.
We take a look back and remember the careers of each member of this distinguished 2011 class.
Knowles: Third-year transfer player out of Phoenix, Arizona. Knowles, one of the more imposing players on the Lightning roster at 6-foot-5, ironically is usually one of the nicest players on the court. The past two years, she has been the Lightning's designated "Sportsmanship Statement" reader before every game.
Carleton commends Knowles for acclimating herself so well on the GBC campus when it could not have been an easy transition coming all the way from Arizona. Knowles has acquitted herself here just fine, and she has managed to find a niche on the Lightning basketball squad.
Her first season in 2008-09, she appeared in 19 games and averaged 6.3 minutes off the bench. She scored 14 points and grabbed 30 rebounds while blocking six shots and snagging two steals.
The next year, 2009-10, she appeared in 14 games and averaged 5.7 minutes per-contest. She scored eight points, pulled down 14 rebounds and had five blocks, one steal and one assist.
This year, Knowles has played in five games for the Lightning. In sparing minutes off the bench, she has contributed seven rebounds, three blocks and one assist.
Megan came to GBC because she "liked the atmosphere," and she chose to play Division II athletics to "challenge herself."
Gullickson: A team captain and leader for the Lightning. Gullickson has provided depth at the guard/forward positions and always given Carleton quality minutes off the bench.
"Amber is one of the hardest workers on this team," Carleton said before the 2010-11 season.
Gullickson was an immediate contributor as a freshman in the 2007-08 season. She appeared in 20 games, averaging 9.2 minutes per-contest. She scored 30 points for the season, grabbed 27 rebounds and had three assists, four steals and a block.
She saw an increased role in her sophomore year when Jones went out with an ACL injury. She played in 23 games and made 13 starts. That year, she registered 78 points, 34 rebounds, six assists, 10 steals and two blocks. She scored her career-high 16 against St. Michael's on Dec. 30.
Her junior season saw her earn the team's Most Improved Player award at the banquet in the Spring. She played in 19 games and made two starts. When the Lightning were without a handful of its players due to a scheduling snafu against St. Michael's on Dec. 21, she earned a start and helped the team win with two points, one steal, one rebound and two assists.
This year as a senior, Gullickson continues to be a team leader on and off the court for the Lightning, and provide quality, hustle play when she gets in. She has appeared in eight games this season and averages 1.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per-game.
Off the court, Gullickson shows off her artistic side by designing the logos for the team's apparel the last three seasons.
Out of Upper Darby High School in Drexel Hill, Pa., Gullickson said she chose to come to GBC because she "loved the personal atmosphere after coming from a large high school…I knew they offered an awesome education for me to succeed."
Gullickson also has said that playing basketball at the college level has always been her dream. Once she arrived on campus, she said, "I knew this team was my family."
Alford: Will be remembered as one of the best defenders in school history. Alford has re-written the record books and achieved more on and off the court at GBC than she and Coach Carleton could have thought possible when she first set foot on the Pike Creek campus.
With good size at 5-foot-11, her agility, knack for the ball and shot-blocking abilities have always allowed the Lightning to be aggressive on defense. Alford has also been a solid rebounder and effective in the post during her four years.
A raw talent out of Trenton Catholic Academy, Alford made an immediate impact on the team her freshman year in 2007-08. She appeared in 27 games, mostly off the bench as she made one start. She averaged 20.8 minutes per-game, scoring 3.5 points per-game. Rebounding and shot-blocking was where she made her mark though, as she was second on the team with 7.2 boards per-game, and she had 44 blocked shots. She also dished out 28 assists and snagged 28 steals.
Her sophomore season, Alford really began to come into her own, dominating on defense with a school single-season record 71 blocks (2.6 blocks per-game) and 38 steals. She also managed to set a CACC single-game record with 12 blocks against Bloomfield on Jan. 20. Alford had 12 double-figure rebounding games and three double-figure scoring performances.
An offseason car accident resulted in a serious leg injury that kept Alford out for the early part of her junior season in 2009-10. Still, Alford came back strong and found her way into the starting lineup just nine games into the season. She appeared in 25 games and made 20 starts. Alford averaged 3.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per-game, blocked 19 shots and had 17 steals and 21 assists.
This year she has continued to be a force for the Lightning defensively, playing in all 24 games and making 23 starts. She has already blocked 44 shots this year, including nine blocks in a win at Wilmington. She also has 38 steals and 23 assists while averaging 4.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per-game.
Alford will finish her career as the all-time leading shot blocker (with 178 blocks to date), the third-leading rebounder and No. 9 on the assists list.
She said she decided to play Division II athletics because she enjoys basketball, but her main reason for coming to GBC was academics. She also chose GBC because she and her parents liked the team's "family-like" atmosphere.
Weldon: One of the most prolific offensive players in Goldey-Beacom history. Weldon has had an uncanny ability to score when her team has needed it most.
An immediate impact player as a freshman in 2007-08, also out of Trenton Catholic Academy, Weldon appeared in 27 games and made 10 starts. She averaged 26.2 minutes per-game and ranked third on the team in scoring (8.7 ppg), pulled down 2.4 rebounds per-game and finished with 81 assists and 28 steals. She had nine double-figure scoring performances, including a 19-point effort in a win against Lock Haven where she made 12-of-14 at the free-throw line.
When Jones went down at the start of the 2008-09, Weldon emerged as the team's leading scorer with 13.4 points per-game. She played in all 27 games and started 26, leading the team at 34.2 minutes played per-game. She scored in double-figures in 22 of the Lightning's 27 games that year, including five 20-plus scoring performances. She also dished out 58 assists and had 45 steals.
Weldon continued to shine in her junior season of 2009-10. She was third on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per-game, tops on the team in assists with 67, 10th in the CACC in free-throw percentage (.803), 4th in the three-point FG percentage (.376) and 12th in three-point FG made (1.58 avg./g). She was named All CACC Honorable Mention, and helped lead the Lightning to a conference tournament semifinal appearance where she ultimately was named to the All-Tournament team. Along the way, she scored a career-high 26 points in a thrilling overtime victory at Caldwell (1/23), and had a terrific all-around performance with season-highs of seven rebounds and six assists in GBC's quarterfinal win over Phila U.
This season has seen Weldon go over the 1,000-point plateau for her career as she has averaged a team third-best 9.3 points per-game thus far. She is also second on the team in assists with 74, as she became the school's all-time leader this year with 280 to-date. Weldon had arguably her best game of the season against Phila U. in the conference season-opener on Dec. 1 this year. She led the team with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field (3-of-4 from three-point range) and collected three assists.
The 5-foot-5 senior captain will finish her Goldey-Beacom career as the all-time leader in assists and three-point field goals and ranked fourth in career points.
Over the course of this group's careers at GBC, the Lightning have earned several program firsts. They will look to accomplish two more firsts to end the regular season. Wed. night, GBC will attempt to win its first game against Phila U. at home. Then on Sat., the Lightning will attempt to earn the first victory over Dominican on the road.
