2015 Preview: Can Fairfield Lady Lions take another step forward in SHAC?
Looking back at last season for the Fairfield Lady Lions, it was one of learning on the go, while gaining experience for the future. Well, the future is now for the Lady Lions of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, as they will have to replace one of their top players from a season ago and along the way battle for a good spot within their conference.
The Lady Lions finished last season at 8-16 overall, though they did have a SHAC mark of 3-10. The 2014-15 season did see Fairfield continue to grasp the basketball concepts of now third-year head coach Chad Hamilton. In Hamilton's first season as head coach FHS was 11-13.
“We are really young right now,” Hamilton said. “We only have one senior, and we have nine players on varsity, and more than half of them are freshmen or sophomores. We are still in the process of learning where to be, and learning how we are going to be the most effective playing, but we are making progress. I believe we will get there sooner than later.”
The lone senior for the Lady Lions is Macie Pauley. The junior class consists of Abigail Newkirk, Carly Arnold and Olivia Bobb. Sophomores are Grace Shope and Blake Adams. There are also three freshmen new to the varsity roster in Trinity Huff, Lauren Arnold and Alexis Tate.
Fairfield lost one of the top players from not only last season, but one of their top players of the last four years in Kaitlin Evans to graduation. FHS will have to find a way to replace a player who averaged 15.4 points per game last season, along with 4.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game in her final season, as Evans was an All-Ohio selection as a senior.
“We’ve lost Kaitlin from last season, and she’s irreplaceable in a lot of ways,” Hamilton said.
One player who the Lady Lions will look to fill those shoes is Shope, as the sophomore broke onto the varsity scene last year and made a difference for FHS. As a freshman in the starting lineup, Shope finished averaging 13.7 points per games, 6.0 rebounds per game, 2.1 assists per game and 2.6 steals per game.
“Grace returns, and she was our second-leading scorer last season,” Hamilton said. “She’s going to be asked to carry a large portion of the load, and she’s going to see the other team’s best defender every night, so we have a lot of pieces to put around her.
“I think we have a lot of talent, but it will just be a matter of putting it together. We have a small team in terms of our height, but we have the ability to make up for that with the ability to play up-tempo and press. Our interior will be our Achilles heel. Defensively, though, Alexis Tate can pressure the ball as well as anyone I’ve ever coached, so she’ll be able to come in to change the game, run point and force turnovers.”
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Gaining varsity experience last season, though it may have not shown in the win column, was a great thing for Fairfield as this season begins. Add that with their summer games and workouts, plus the preseason, and the young Lady Lions are beginning to get used to game action and playing as a single unit.
“We had a good summer. We got to play around 30 games in June, so there was a lot of game action there, even though summer is a little different,” Hamilton said. “They got a chance to start meshing into their roles, so we are trying to pick up from where we left off.”
Besides looking to Shope (an All-District selection last year), Coach Hamilton said another player to look for is Pauley, who returns to the program.
“She was at Fairfield earlier, but then transferred to Washington Court House, but she’s back now. As of Nov. 11, she was eligible, and she’ll be a big help. She’s skilled offensively, and she will be a scorer, which we will certainly need.”
So we know the team will be young and still gaining experience as the season begins and moves along, but what are the expectations for the team for the 2015-16 season?
“Our goal is to have a winning record and to go to the district tournament,” Hamilton said. “That’s what the goal is right off the bat, and we are focusing on that. We want to try and get as many wins early as we can and just progress as the season goes along.”
Besides their usual conference slate of games, Fairfield will be facing Adena, East Clinton, Clinton-Massie, Clermont Northeastern, Washington, Paint Valley, Southeastern, Blanchester and McClain out of their conference. Hamilton spoke about the Division II SHAC schedule of the Lady Lions for this season.
“In the small school division, North Adams is the strongest team, then after that, the other four, we can beat each other on any given night,” he said.