Last season, three county schools were breaking in new girls' basketball coaches. This season, there's a bit more continuity, as all five schools return their leading men on the bench this season. And it's a good thing - there's some stiff challenges ahead for their respective teams.
Randy Titkemeyer of Eaton, Troy Ferguson of National Trail and Dan Music of Tri-County North have to replace maybe the best player to lace "em up at their school - Eaton's Dara Ferriell, Trail's Alyssa Joyce and North's Rachel Heindl have all graduated. They'll be difficult to replace, but each coach is hoping a core group of players will be able to collectively step up and do just that.
At South, third-year coach Glen Mabry may have the best duo in the county in junior point guard Adelee Gates and junior forward Tayler Creech, who will look to lead TVS to an improved mark after last year's sub-.500 finish.
Joe Webster at Preble Shawnee is fighting the same battle he did as a first-year coach year ago - trying to change the culture of the Lady Arrows' basketball program, which comes off its second winless season in a row.
Lots of questions and so little time to answer them - the season tips off this weekend. Enjoy the look.
- Eaton -
Ferriell was a do-it-all forward for Eaton, leading the Lady Eagles in both scoring and rebounding last year. She's now a walk-on at Miami University, but Titkemeyer, in his second season, has an experienced group of players who he thinks can step up and lead his team this season.
"I think (senior guard) Maggie Neanen is going to have a good year this year," Titkemeyer said. "She's going to really have to step up as far as producing for us. I think for us to be successful she's going to have to hit her shots and just play a complete game. (Junior forward) Emma Springmier, she's got a complete game and the ability to do a lot of things - attack the basket, shoot, handle the ball. We're going to need scoring from those two to be successful and consistent.
"(Senior forward) Paige (Singleton) is going to have to be our leader on defense. She's a strong girl, a bit undersized, and she's going to have to defend the big girls in the SWBL because we're undersized as a whole. Last year that really didn't hurt us as much as other things did, but we'll be counting on her and Meghan Clark defensively in the post.
"And then we'll need (junior guard) Ashley Neavin's scoring and passing. One of the big things is, Ashley and Emma were sophomores last year and you can see improvement from them, and also from everybody else. That's our biggest thing is that we're improved with our skills and experience."
Those improvements will be of utmost importance for Eaton this season, as there is no clear-cut go-to player for them just yet. That's not a problem in Titkemeyer's mind, however.
"We're really going to have to focus on playing as a team to win - passing the ball well, executing our offense, playing sound defensively," Titkemeyer said. "We have to come to play on both ends every night, especially defensively. We need to hold the scores down because we're not sure about our offense yet. We'll need to push the ball since we are smaller, and get some easy shots and make sure the girls play their roles on offense and do what they're most comfortable doing."
Despite their returning experience, as a whole, Eaton is still a young team. But Titkemeyer doesn't think that will hinder his team's ability to compete and improve on last season's 6-14 record.
"We'll be young again this year. There will be some freshmen coming up to play," Titkemeyer said. "But we really do expect to be competitive. I see us being able to compete against the better teams in the SWBL and steal a couple games from them."
- National Trail -
Joyce was runner-up for player of the year in the Cross County Conference last season and led the Blazers in scoring and rebounding. In fact, she's the school's all-time leading rebounder, and she helped lead Trail to a 12-11 record and an appearance in the sectional final. Despite that success, Ferguson has only 15 girls out for the team in his third season.
"Depth is definitely an issue," Ferguson said. "I was hoping coming off our success last year we'd get some more numbers out, but the girls that want to be there are there."
Of those 15 players, sophomore point guard Makayla Abner is now the team's unquestioned leader on the floor. She started as a freshman last season, and this year will be joined by another freshman face in the Trail backcourt.
"Our guard play is going to be real good. Bringing back Makayla helps," Ferguson said. "And we'll be using another freshman guard with ball-handling abilities in Paige Thompson, so I think our guard play will be good. I don't think teams will be able to pressure us like they have in years past."
Add junior center Kate Yeazel into the mix, and Trail is off to a good start on paper as far as replacing Joyce's production.
"Kate will be strong in the post for us," Ferguson said. "She's key for us because she has the ability to score and defend down there with her size."
But that depth - it's going to be the Lady Blazers' Achilles heel all season. But the players Ferguson does have know what they have to do to repeat last season's success.
"We expect to dress nine to 10 girls for varsity, so there will be some playing both JV and varsity every night. We're not sure how it'll play out just yet, but we'll see," Ferguson said. "The important thing is the girls that are back know what it takes to win to get that success, but at the same time, they're not satisfied. They want to go back and win the sectional title.
"Young leaders like Makayla will set the tone for us. They're competitive, and it's showed in our practices. We've had the most competitive practices we've had in my three years, and I think it's due to the way we played in the sectional final last year. That left a sour taste in our mouths, and it's fitting we start with Bethel, who beat us last year in that game. It's a good way to take out that frustration from the last few months."
- Preble Shawnee -
Webster's second year will start exactly like his first. His team is coming off a winless, 0-21 season a year ago. What do you do to combat that? Simple.
"We've just really started from scratch. We're starting all over," Webster said. "We really are starting from scratch. I haven't even got a lineup made up yet because we're so young."
Shawnee boasts only two seniors, Taylor Withrow and Anna Schroeder. Both are capable of leading the Lady Arrows to their first win in three seasons.
"Taylor and Anna - we'll go as they go. If they don't go, we won't go," Webster said. "They need to lead us every night because everybody else is so young, so it's on them to produce."
Withrow is Shawnee's tallest player at 5'9". A year ago, she handled the ball at the point. This year, she'll shift to the wing, where Webster will hope to utilize both her and Schroeder better.
"Withrow is as athletic a kid as there is in the area," he said. "Moving her from the one to the three will let her take advantage of some mismatches because she has some ball-handling skills and she can score. Both our seniors have the capability to score. Anna can shoot from the outside, and we have to get her some more looks out there. She's streaky, but hopefully we can get her a little more consistent with more looks."
With a young and undersized squad, Webster is hoping a change in defensive philosophy will help combat not only the team's offensive struggles from the past two seasons, but their mindset on the court.
"Our strength will end up being our defense, I think, even though we're trying a few different things," Webster said. "Our tallest girl is 5'9" and we don't have a lot of speed, but we're working on some new type of zone defenses. I hope that'll be the standout point for us, but we're still trying to figure out how to match up with people.
"I don't know that we've got the offense corrected yet. We've spent a lot of time shooting. At times we hit shots, at times we're still not successful, and I can't say if that will change or not because our mindset isn't that much different from the last couple seasons. I challenge them every day to step up and be better. They practice hard and have played hard in our scrimmages.
"Losing's a funny thing. It's hard to get kids over that hump sometimes and you just accept it after awhile. Hopefully we don't accept that this year."
- Tri-County North -
Heindl, North's all-time leading scorer, is gone, off to Wright State to further her career on the softball diamond. But three starters and some key reserves return from least year's 13-8 team.
For Music, in his second season, the challenge is not only replacing Heindl, but fellow graduates Sarah Whitaker and Emily Ervin, and the leadership the trio provided.
"We have three starters back, but only one senior (Abbey Schlater, along with sophomore Mallorie Ullery and junior Sara Bierly), and we're hoping they can provide leadership, because we lost a lot of leadership last year," Music said.
Each of North's three returning starters brings something a little different to the table.
"Abbey doesn't score a lot, but she's our energy person and we'll look to her for that leadership," Music said. "She's a defensive stopper for us. We can put her on the other team's best player regardless of position. Offensively, she'll play in the post but may also play some point forward because she has those kind of skills.
"Mallorie averaged eight points, 10 rebounds and four blocks (71 on the season last year) as a freshman, so obviously we'll be looking for her as our first offensive option. She runs the floor well in transition, and she definitely helps us with her size on the defensive end.
"Sara averaged seven points per game as a sophomore and she'll improve on that. Her strength is definitely as a slasher to the bucket. And with five underclassmen in our eight-player rotation, we're looking for her to provide some much-needed leadership too."
Sophomore guard Kindra Mullins also returns after seeing significant action last year, and she'll be joined by a host of newcomers, all of whom can be utilized in different ways, which will be key for North to replicate last season's success.
"Our (varsity) newcomers are so versatile," Music said. "They can do a lot of different things, and that's key for us because we still need to improve in some areas - defensive intensity, taking care of the ball better. But we go strong to the boards, we move the ball well, we create turnovers and score off them. We do some things well, but we'll need everyone to step up and improve throughout the season in the areas we need them to improve in."
- Twin Valley South -
Gates will make a strong run for player of the year in the county, as well as the Cross County Conference, where she was a first-teamer last season. Along with Creech, the two juniors comprise maybe the most potent offensive duo in the area.
"We need Adelee to continue her solid play at the point guard position," Mabry said. "She contributes in a lot of different ways. She's a 5'9" point guard who can take her defender inside and create some mismatches. We need her to score. She led the team in assists last year, and we would like to see that increase this year too.
"Tayler was second in scoring and led the team in rebounding, and we just need her to continue to develop. She has a great midrange jump shot and does a great job pulling up off the dribble. We would like her to expand her range and be more consistent on her shot."
South also returns a third starter in junior forward Laura Ingram, who was third on the team in points and rebounds, behind both Gates and Creech. Mabry is hoping the triumvirate can do big things for TVS this year.
"Hopefully with your three top performers back you'll do well, and I think we'll be OK," he said. "Offensively, we'll be fine. At times we get some other people involved other than those three, and that's key because we can go eight or nine deep with no problem, and there's a little more athleticism to our lineup too."
A year ago, South lost a ton of close games, a product of their young lineup. But with three seniors and eight juniors, Mabry hopes to reverse that this season.
"We had a lot of close games where we couldn't get over the top last year," Mabry said. "Hopefully, with all the experience back, we can change that. Two years ago, we won those close ones; last year we didn't. Hopefully, with the experience we've gained over the last two years, we've learned how to play in those situations. I think it kind of depends on how we start. We have to get off to a good start with our schedule the way it is. We have to get everyone on the same page and work together to be successful."
"Ads published on this site are not for republication in print or web media without the expressed written consent of both the advertiser and The Brown Publishing Company."
