2016 Whiteoak Lady Wildcats Preview: Will Lady ’Cats gain experience needed to improve each game?
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Defense will be the key for the 2016-17 Whiteoak Lady Wildcats, and if they are able to play solid defense, that could unlock the potential to more success as the season is set to begin.
Whiteoak begins this season wanting to play better defense, because although they have experience from last season, they are also beginning a new year by losing their top scorer from last season in Emma Wardlow (a 1,000 point scorer), making it a bit of a transition year for the rebuilding team.
The Lady Wildcats enter this year with five seniors, including Maggie Carr, Lexi Jones, Kattie Taylor, Morgan Thompson and Chelsea Chisman.
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Juniors this season include Megan Botts and Ashlyn Moore and freshmen this year are Kensley Bailey and Cylee Bratton.
Besides losing Wardlow, WHS also lost Ashleigh Harless and Michaela Luman to graduation, with that being a combined 28 points the Lady Wildcats need to replace from a season ago.
“Right now, we’re still finding our role. We’re still filling slots,” WHS head coach Randy Abbott said. “We’ve got two freshmen that’ll be coming up. One of them right now is Cylee (Bratton). She’ll be getting more playing time off the bat. The other one is Kensley (Bailey).
“We’re trying to let them come along slow, and yet we’re trying to get them to grow up quick because we need them. Our numbers are down. We had a reserve player who dislocated her wrist and fractured it the other night, so our numbers are down. In reserve and varsity, we have about 13 girls.”
For those players to progress, the Lady ’Cats will look to their seniors to take control of the team on the court. It will be a must for WHS to improve on their five wins (5-18) from a season ago.
“Maggie Carr’s our point guard. She averaged about 14 points for us last year. She’s a very good kid, a very talented kid. She’s got to take control for us,” Abbott said. “She’s got to be the floor leader, and she can do it, she’s just got to do it.
“We have Lexi inside and Chelsea on the inside, so we’ve got to score from the paint this year. Last year, if you look at our games, we just didn’t score very many from the paint. We got pretty good shots in there, we’ve just got to convert. Lexi’s very athletic, so those two there are going to have to be our floor leaders and have to get us going in the right direction.”
The goal for any team is to win games, but to do so, there must be other goals in place before the ultimate objectives are achieved. That goal for the Lady ’Cats is the aforementioned aspect of playing better defensively, as last season they lost a handful of games after having a double-digit lead. One of those games was in the sectional round last season, where they were ahead by 16 points, but lost the lead and the game to the Clay Lady Panthers.
“Our goals are pretty simple right now. We’ve got to play defense,” Abbott said. “We’re trying to naturally keep the ball out of the paint and limit the opponent to one shot and run a controlled break. From there, hopefully our offense will catch up, but we don’t have any options. With us, we can’t beat ourselves. We’ve got to execute. We’ve got to do things right.
“We spend, right now, over half our practice on defense. We’ve got to come out at least hard-nosed in that area, and the other stuff will come along. We are inexperienced. We’ve got two freshmen, and one of them will share a little a bit of a reserve spot starting off, but hopefully she’ll be able to move up and give us good minutes.
“Basically, at this point, goals in my mind are always just out of reach. When you reach them, you raise the bar a little bit. So right now, our goals are mostly defensive-oriented. We want to play hard, naturally, every play. So we set goals every game, and we try to push them to those goals. Then, when they get there, we try to raise the bar. We’ve got to get better. The only way you’re going to get better is to push yourself.”
Whiteoak begins this season wanting to play better defense, because although they have experience from last season, they are also beginning a new year by losing their top scorer from last season in Emma Wardlow (a 1,000 point scorer), making it a bit of a transition year for the rebuilding team.
The Lady Wildcats enter this year with five seniors, including Maggie Carr, Lexi Jones, Kattie Taylor, Morgan Thompson and Chelsea Chisman.
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Juniors this season include Megan Botts and Ashlyn Moore and freshmen this year are Kensley Bailey and Cylee Bratton.
Besides losing Wardlow, WHS also lost Ashleigh Harless and Michaela Luman to graduation, with that being a combined 28 points the Lady Wildcats need to replace from a season ago.
“Right now, we’re still finding our role. We’re still filling slots,” WHS head coach Randy Abbott said. “We’ve got two freshmen that’ll be coming up. One of them right now is Cylee (Bratton). She’ll be getting more playing time off the bat. The other one is Kensley (Bailey).
“We’re trying to let them come along slow, and yet we’re trying to get them to grow up quick because we need them. Our numbers are down. We had a reserve player who dislocated her wrist and fractured it the other night, so our numbers are down. In reserve and varsity, we have about 13 girls.”
For those players to progress, the Lady ’Cats will look to their seniors to take control of the team on the court. It will be a must for WHS to improve on their five wins (5-18) from a season ago.
“Maggie Carr’s our point guard. She averaged about 14 points for us last year. She’s a very good kid, a very talented kid. She’s got to take control for us,” Abbott said. “She’s got to be the floor leader, and she can do it, she’s just got to do it.
“We have Lexi inside and Chelsea on the inside, so we’ve got to score from the paint this year. Last year, if you look at our games, we just didn’t score very many from the paint. We got pretty good shots in there, we’ve just got to convert. Lexi’s very athletic, so those two there are going to have to be our floor leaders and have to get us going in the right direction.”
The goal for any team is to win games, but to do so, there must be other goals in place before the ultimate objectives are achieved. That goal for the Lady ’Cats is the aforementioned aspect of playing better defensively, as last season they lost a handful of games after having a double-digit lead. One of those games was in the sectional round last season, where they were ahead by 16 points, but lost the lead and the game to the Clay Lady Panthers.
“Our goals are pretty simple right now. We’ve got to play defense,” Abbott said. “We’re trying to naturally keep the ball out of the paint and limit the opponent to one shot and run a controlled break. From there, hopefully our offense will catch up, but we don’t have any options. With us, we can’t beat ourselves. We’ve got to execute. We’ve got to do things right.
“We spend, right now, over half our practice on defense. We’ve got to come out at least hard-nosed in that area, and the other stuff will come along. We are inexperienced. We’ve got two freshmen, and one of them will share a little a bit of a reserve spot starting off, but hopefully she’ll be able to move up and give us good minutes.
“Basically, at this point, goals in my mind are always just out of reach. When you reach them, you raise the bar a little bit. So right now, our goals are mostly defensive-oriented. We want to play hard, naturally, every play. So we set goals every game, and we try to push them to those goals. Then, when they get there, we try to raise the bar. We’ve got to get better. The only way you’re going to get better is to push yourself.”