Butler grad Matonak key behind unbeaten college hoops team

By JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

January 20, 2005 Last Updated: January 20, 2005 01:21 PM College

She's the starting point guard for one of only three unbeaten NCAA Division III women's basketball teams in the country.

She's running one of the most complicated offenses in all of college basketball, one that has five players - including herself - averaging in double figures through 13 games.

"We run a multi-flex offense," St. John Fisher (N.Y.) coach Phil Kahler said. "Everybody has to be involved. The point guard has to make sure of that for the offense to work.

"She is as good as any point guard I've ever had."

She is Butler graduate Adria Matonak, now in her second year of running the point the Cardinals (13-0).

But she's in her first year of running it alone.

"They kind of broke me in at the position last year when (2002-03 point guard) Jen Kristensen was here," Matonak said. "Jen moved to No. 2 and I ran No. 1, with her help, of course.

"This year, I knew I had to step up my play a notch. Jen's not here anymore."

Neither are two other graduated seniors. In fact, the Cardinals lost their top three scorers from a year ago.

Yet they keep on winning.

"That's why Adria's play has been so critical to us," Kahler said. "She hasn't let us down."

On the contrary, St. John Fisher won its first 12 games for the first time since 1995. Since Matonak's been at the school, the Cardinals have won 61 games and lost only eight, including only two at home.

Last year's team won the Division III Eastern Regional. The 2002-03 squad lost in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

"Based on the players we lost from last year, we knew we had to play as a team more than ever," Matonak said. "This team is so tight - five players in double figures is fantastic. I've never heard of that."

She's running the offense that's producing it. And she's impressing a coach who began this year with a 677-136 career record - the most wins by any coach at any level of college basketball.

"Adria's become that extended coach on the floor," Kahler said. "She calls out the offense, she calls out the defense. We put so much responsibility on her.

"She has so much self-confidence right now and the other players respect her and respond to her. I used to tell her things from the bench on out-of-bounds plays, for example I don't have to convey that to her anymore."

Matonak is averaging 11.2 points and 3.4 assists per game. She leads the Cardinals at the free throw line, sinking 82.4 percent of her shots.

Kahler was quick to compare her to former point guard Michelle Meinking, who ran the Cardinals offense from 1995-99, or the last time it was 13-0.

"Michelle had similar qualities, but averaged just 3.4 points per game," the coach said. "She started for me for four years and didn't need to score. Adria does - and has."

Matonak was named St. John Fisher College's Female Athlete of the Week after helping her team win the prestigious JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament. She had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal in the championship game.

Matonak scored 18 points, hitting five of six free throws in the final 46 seconds, in a 63-55 win over rival Nazareth. She added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in a 77-67 win over Keuka College last week.

St. John's Fisher's men's basketball team is also unbeaten. The school is the only one in the country at any level that has both its men's and women's basketball teams sporting perfect records.

"It's been a pretty special thing," Matonak said. "We go to their games and they go to ours. We support each other.

"During Christmas break, we were the only people on campus. The basketball players know each other really well."

Matonak is majoring in elementary and special education. She is on pace to graduate a semester early, but won't so she can finish out her senior season next year.

"I'm having a ball," she said.