Even though every team in the new NEPSAC Class AAA makes the playoffs, ascending the hierarchy of those elite programs will be a daunting task.
St. Andrew's missed out on the Class AA playoffs with a 16-14 record last season but has 11 returners on its 12-player roster. Coach Christina Batastini expects growth this winter with a faster-paced style of play and an additional year of experience all around.
"While we do have a similar roster, I don't feel like it's the same team at all," she said. "And there's also been so much progress, especially from our younger players."
Here's what has St. Andrew's excited about a 2024-25 leap.
Bolstering the backcourt
Maysen Hill (Kingston, R.I.) is the returning star, but the Fordham commit has been honest about not meeting her standard of excellence last year, even as an All-Class AA Honorable Mention. Part of the issue, Batastini said, was that Hill had to play out of position at point guard and learn new responsibilities while also dealing with expectations as a top prospect in the region.
"There's always a lot of pressure, especially when you're a highly-touted player, and it's a small community," Batastini said. "Even New England I would consider a small basketball community, and I felt that too when I played. All eyes are on you when people know who you are, and before she committed, I think she felt that pressure. I think that's totally natural."
READ MORE: Maysen Hill discusses her Fordham decision, dealing with athletic pressure
Hill can return to her more comfortable role as a scoring 2-guard this winter because of St. Andrew's lone newcomer. Kiyla Fowler, a 2026 transfer from Hamilton, Ontario, Can., will help stabilize the point guard position. She joins an exciting guard rotation that also includes Elaina Reed (Smithfield, R.I.), Batastini's daughter Ryanne Sheehan, and promising 2028 point guard Aaralyn Scott (Westport, Mass.).
"(Fowler's) a the daughter of coach — high basketball I.Q., high-culture kid, and she's someone that I expect will have the ability to run our offense, to get our players into our sets and to be a vocal leader for us on the court. So I'm excited to see her contribute this season," Batastini said.
Those four guards should collectively ease the burden on Hill, who has also put her recruiting process in the rear-view. Batastini thinks the senior will have the freedom to rack up buckets along with athletic 2027 wing Zoe Knight (South Kingstown, R.I.).
"She's a natural scorer, and with those guards who are pass-first, I think she's going to have an explosive offensive season for us — and the pressure is off."
The most imposing frontcourt in NEPSAC?
Few basketball teams in New England boast the combination of talent and sheer size in St. Andrew's frontcourt. Senior Maddison Krug (North Kingstown, R.I.) is 6-foot-4 and committed to Lafayette early in the summer. Junior Molly Sisson (Mattapoisett, Mass.), 6-3, is one of the fastest-rising players in NEPSAC after racking up double-digit Division 1 offers this summer.
"I plan on doing a couple things. I want to see those guys play together, but we're also going to run some 4-out, 1-in, and let our guards get some spacing," Batastini said. "So they'll play together, they'll sub in for each other, and it's a great 1-2 punch at that position, because even if one of them gets in foul trouble, we're still going to have a 6-foot-4, 6-foot-3, impactful player on the court."
St. Andrew's is more guard-heavy this year after losing some post players to graduation and transferring. Batastini believes that will actually benefit Krug and Sisson because of the improved court spacing.
"Last year, we played 3-out, 2-in offensively because of our size," she said. "We also had Molly and Maddison Krug. And while we had the size, that didn't necessarily translate. We weren't rebounding out of position, we weren't really able to get the ball inside. So we had the size, but we couldn't take advantage of it, and by not taking advantage of the size, it also clogged up the middle. So with the departure of two bigs, I feel like our team is actually quite different. Molly can play the perimeter because she's hitting threes, so we're going to space the court a lot more."
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Bringing 3x3 lessons to 5x5
Batastini, a Providence native and former college player at Stanford, has coached 3x3 basketball for several years, including the last two summers as Team USA's U23 head coach. She guided the team to a gold medal at this summer's 2024 FIBA U23 3x3 World Cup in Mongolia with a roster that included Harvard star Harmoni Turner.
Playing 3x3 is completely different from typically 5-on-5 basketball. The sport has challenged Batastini to take high-level college athletes and get them to buy-in to the stylistic differences between the two sports.
"I think this year, I had a much better approach as to how to do that — how to take players who have never played, not only teach them the rules, but the differences in 5-on-5. The learning curve is really steep," she said. "So without having training camps and a lot of practices, what I really looked forward to was the challenge of having really elite 5-on-5 players and getting them to buy into the differences in 3x3, and then watching them succeed the more that they played."
Batastini sees some similarities when she brings in new players to St. Andrew's. She also wants to pull more 3x3 principles and apply them to her own team this winter.
"A lot of 5-on-5 comes down to three players and actions, and I think having the opportunity to coach 3x3 for the last year and a half, I've learned a lot as a coach in terms of really quick, efficient actions, the ability to teach players how to read those actions very quickly, putting pressure on the rim, putting pressure on the 3-point line," she said. "A lot of the dead-ball actions we use in 3x3 are actions that you can implement in 5-on-5. So if people who come to watch us play this year, especially people who come from the 3x3 side, (they) will definitely see some offensive looks that I've taken from 3x3."
