Come this winter, the Lady Basketball Beacons will have their leading point scorer back on the floor. In 2006-07, guard LaKeisha Tucker led her team (15-11 overall) in scoring, averaging 15.3 ppg, good enough for fourth overall in the Little East Conference. The downside here is that the Beacons have lost a combined 23.9 ppg between departing seniors Lydia Coverdale, Denise B. Ridge, and Kristen Reske. In Reske, the Beacons lose their all-time leader in three-point shooting (149 made), free-throw percentage (.754), and games played (102). It will be a challenge to fill the void of such an impact player. The Beacons will look to senior Ashley Greene, among others, for some relief in the point-scoring department. In 2006-07, Greene made it into 24 of 26 games for the Beacons, averaging 7.6 ppg in just over 22 minutes. The 5′ 9″ guard from Brookline had a knack for shooting threes and picking opponents’ pockets while on the floor. Although Greene was only fifth on the team in three-point field goals attempted, she hit almost 40 percent of them. Her ability to make thefts in the open court was visible as well. Ashley was second on the team in steals, nabbing 45 in her 24 games played in the 2006-07 season. Head Coach Shawn Polk says that this year Ashley is “one of our critical players.” Her season was cut short last year when she blew out her ACL in the second-to-last game of the season. Her rehab, according to Polk, has gone well. “She’s stronger than most people,” Polk says. It’s just a matter of how Greene feels this season on her surgically repaired knee. If her confidence is high and she doesn’t second-guess her knee, she will be a welcome re-addition to the team. Along with team leader LaKeisha Tucker and comeback Ashley Greene, Shawn Polk will look to senior center Alicia Querusio to contribute offensively. She believes that Querusio is one of the best “big men” in the Little East and that she can make her presence felt inside and under the basket. Querusio, who is a leader on the team, expects this year to be better than 2006-07. “We’re going to have an amazing season,” the center said. “I expect us to do far better this year [compared to last year].”But in the end, it all comes down to Keisha, as coach Polk likes to call her. “Hands down,” Polk says, “one of the best players in school history.” Polk talks highly of the guard, explaining that she is a talented shooter, a great ball-handler and just a “flat-out basketball player.” She even went so far as to throw some of the men’s basketball team under the bus. Says Polk, “She plays with the guys and beats half of them.” It’s nothing against the men’s team. That’s just the only way she can explain how good LaKeisha Tucker really is. LaKeisha’s teammates only re-emphasized what Coach Polk had already said about the great guard. Querusio, along with forwards Caroline Ashe and Courtney Meninger all say that she has excellent floor vision and is really team oriented. Querusio even half-jokingly added “She could pass the ball between eight people and still get it through.”From an overall perspective, Polk knows she will need some younger players to fill in roles on her team if they want to compete for a top spot in the Little East. She explains that she has six new freshmen on the team. Four of them will need to fill major roles on the team, she says, while the other two will fill lesser roles. But when it comes down to it, Polk just wants to get back to where she was last February: in the Little East Conference tournament, at home, playing to play another night.