Team Preview: Fairfield Lady Lions
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
There is a new era of Fairfield Lady Lions basketball this season, as there is a new head coach and a rejuvenated hope for a program that hasn't seen many wins come their way in recent years.
The Lady Lions are coming off a season where they went 5-17 overall and 3-10 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. FHS did win one postseason game, but a change was made at the head coaching position as Chad Hamilton was chosen to take over the struggling program.
A couple bright spots for the Lady Lions are senior Heather Cox and junior Kaitlin Evans, who were the top two players on the team last season, with Cox being an All-Ohio selection.
One year ago, Cox led the Lady Lions with 20 points per game, scoring 440 points in 20 regular-season games. She also added 14.5 rebounds per game (319 rebounds).
Other seniors are Shelby Smithson (who missed last season with a torn ACL) and Taylor Avedisian.
"Heather is going to be the one with the most experience, and she'll be our team leader," Hamilton said. "It will be big to have to have Shelby back. Shelby is a great athlete, and she brings in added scoring and rebounding, which is something we need.
"Heather gives us a force inside, as she'll be our main scorer and rebounder. She put up impressive numbers last year, and I think we have more weapons than last year. It will be a matter of using her in the right way to allow her to capitalize on what she does best."
Evans averaged nine ppg last season (197 total points), along with three assists per game.
Hamilton, a first-year head coach, spoke about what it has been like preparing the team for the upcoming season.
"We've been dealing with a lot of injuries, but we just about have everyone healthy," he said. "We've been working hard to get in shape and getting things down to be able to play the way we want to play."
[[In-content Ad]]
Besides the three seniors, the team will consist of seven juniors (including Evans) and one freshman in Carly Arnold. The rest of the junior class consists of Haley Bobb, Katie Runyon, Emily Teeters, Justice Hattan, Courtney Harker and Lydia Sowders.
The girls have already have gained a lot of varsity experience, as they had no choice but to play at the highest level as freshmen and sophomores.
"We return a lot of experience," Hamilton said. "They've played at least two years of varsity, and hopefully that will work out well for us."
This season, Hamilton said there will be no excuses.
"Something I've seen when a team has a lot of freshmen and sophomores is the excuse 'they are young' when something doesn't go their way," he said. "I told this group they don't have that excuse anymore.
"They are all upperclassmen, and they are supposed to be on varsity at this point, so it is time to use that experience and put up some wins."
With a new coach comes a new system.
"We are concentrating a lot on ball movement and movement on the defensive end," Hamilton said. "That's what we are fighting the most. We just want to stand and watch, so if we can move the ball and get movement out of all five positions, that's what I'm looking for."
Hamilton has a different set of expectations, as he wants to change the culture of the program.
"I want to make sure we don't regress in any phase of the game," he said. "Everyone says they want to improve every day, but I don't buy into that. I don't think that is possible. It is a matter of not losing ground, and if we don't go backwards in any way, I'll be happy.
"We want to change the outlook and attitude of the whole program. The girls get down on themselves easily, and I'm trying to change the way they look at things. We want to show them if they put the work in, they can improve.
"Realistically, my goal is to win more games than we lose. If we can do that, we'll have made great progress."
The Lady Lions are coming off a season where they went 5-17 overall and 3-10 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. FHS did win one postseason game, but a change was made at the head coaching position as Chad Hamilton was chosen to take over the struggling program.
A couple bright spots for the Lady Lions are senior Heather Cox and junior Kaitlin Evans, who were the top two players on the team last season, with Cox being an All-Ohio selection.
One year ago, Cox led the Lady Lions with 20 points per game, scoring 440 points in 20 regular-season games. She also added 14.5 rebounds per game (319 rebounds).
Other seniors are Shelby Smithson (who missed last season with a torn ACL) and Taylor Avedisian.
"Heather is going to be the one with the most experience, and she'll be our team leader," Hamilton said. "It will be big to have to have Shelby back. Shelby is a great athlete, and she brings in added scoring and rebounding, which is something we need.
"Heather gives us a force inside, as she'll be our main scorer and rebounder. She put up impressive numbers last year, and I think we have more weapons than last year. It will be a matter of using her in the right way to allow her to capitalize on what she does best."
Evans averaged nine ppg last season (197 total points), along with three assists per game.
Hamilton, a first-year head coach, spoke about what it has been like preparing the team for the upcoming season.
"We've been dealing with a lot of injuries, but we just about have everyone healthy," he said. "We've been working hard to get in shape and getting things down to be able to play the way we want to play."
[[In-content Ad]]
Besides the three seniors, the team will consist of seven juniors (including Evans) and one freshman in Carly Arnold. The rest of the junior class consists of Haley Bobb, Katie Runyon, Emily Teeters, Justice Hattan, Courtney Harker and Lydia Sowders.
The girls have already have gained a lot of varsity experience, as they had no choice but to play at the highest level as freshmen and sophomores.
"We return a lot of experience," Hamilton said. "They've played at least two years of varsity, and hopefully that will work out well for us."
This season, Hamilton said there will be no excuses.
"Something I've seen when a team has a lot of freshmen and sophomores is the excuse 'they are young' when something doesn't go their way," he said. "I told this group they don't have that excuse anymore.
"They are all upperclassmen, and they are supposed to be on varsity at this point, so it is time to use that experience and put up some wins."
With a new coach comes a new system.
"We are concentrating a lot on ball movement and movement on the defensive end," Hamilton said. "That's what we are fighting the most. We just want to stand and watch, so if we can move the ball and get movement out of all five positions, that's what I'm looking for."
Hamilton has a different set of expectations, as he wants to change the culture of the program.
"I want to make sure we don't regress in any phase of the game," he said. "Everyone says they want to improve every day, but I don't buy into that. I don't think that is possible. It is a matter of not losing ground, and if we don't go backwards in any way, I'll be happy.
"We want to change the outlook and attitude of the whole program. The girls get down on themselves easily, and I'm trying to change the way they look at things. We want to show them if they put the work in, they can improve.
"Realistically, my goal is to win more games than we lose. If we can do that, we'll have made great progress."