Riverhawks men’s and women’s basketball will begin the fall season on Nov. 9 at Penn State York.
Men’s basketball will welcome seven returning players back to the team. Head coach Joe Snowden said he is “looking for good things for them.”
“I’m looking for … their leadership, the savvy of play from last year,” Snowden said. “And bringing it back into this year.”
Snowden coached the men’s team to win the regional championship in 2020, beating Prince George’s Community College 84-79.
Snowden said he wants to reach the national championship.
Second-year guards, Avery Evans, a business administration student, Miles Evans, a history philosophy student, who are twins, and forward Angelo Harris, a transfer studies student, will be the team captains this season.
Snowden, the coach for 12 years, said he hopes his players “do better than last year.”
The Riverhawks finished the 2023 season with nine wins and 16 losses.
Avery Evans, a returning player, agreed the team can do better.
“This year they expanded my role on the team,” Evans said. “I have to, you know, be able to play that way, play at that level. So I have to, like, really be disciplined.”
The women’s basketball team, on the other hand, will have fewer returners.
In fact, Lionel Makell, the head women’s basketball coach, said the team will be without key players until the second half of the season.
“Main focus is to have enough players,” Makell said. “We’ve had a few that transferred in that found out they’re ineligible. They don’t have enough credits.”
Second-year forwards Holly Wall and Ayannah Gorham will return this season.
Makell coached the women’s team to the national championship in 2019, losing in the first round to Hostos Community College, 91-37.
Makell said he hopes his athletes will focus on academics to get and stay eligible and “to finish what we started and to get the most out of their ability.”
Gorham, a third-year undecided student, agreed.
“I expect my mental to be stronger,” Gorham said. “I am one of … two returners, so … you know, expectation for both of us is really to lead and guide everybody else.”
