2017 Whiteoak Lady Wildcats Preview: Can the Lady Wildcats gain victories while building program’s foundation?
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By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
After not coaching at the varsity level for the past eight years, Steve Smith returns as the head coach of the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats to rebuild the program he once led to 10 sectional titles and three district championships in a 13-year span.
Smith — who last coached the Lady Wildcats during the 2009-10 season — replaces Randy Abbott as the head coach. Though the entire program has just nine players, he stated he has nine players who want to be in the program and are willing to put in the work to build the program back up to better days.
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Since Smith was last head coach, the Lady ’Cats program has seen three head coaches, and the program has not had a winning season. In the seven seasons since Smith last coached at Whiteoak, the Lady ’Cats program has 21 total wins. Last season, Whiteoak finished at 3-20 overall.
Entering this season, WHS has lost their top four scorers due to graduation in Maggie Carr (11 points per game), Chelsea Chisman (5.9 ppg), Lexi Jones (5.4 ppg) and Morgan Thompson (5 ppg).
“I’m glad to be back, but numbers are way down,” Smith said. “The program’s been down for four or five years and just can’t get girls to come out and play. We’ve got nine girls, all really good kids and good athletes, but lacking a little in basketball because they haven’t played.
“I’ve got three girls who’ve never played, so it’s going to be a long year. We’re not going to beat anybody very bad, but we’re hoping to build the program back up for the next few years.”
Whiteoak’s roster consists of two seniors in Megan Botts and Courtney Gross. The three juniors are Sydnie Raines, Sha Vanlieu and Hailey Monteith.
WHS has two sophomores in Cylee Bratton and Jordan Griggs, and the two freshmen are Kara Ward and Ariel Farahay.
“One of the seniors hasn’t ever played,” Smith said. “Courtney has never played basketball. Megan has, and Megan’s going to be the leader. She’s got to lead the team, her and Cylee Bratton. Cylee has really got to be our standout. She and Megan Botts are going to have to be our main scorers. The other girls are quick, they hustle, but they’re not a big scoring threat.
“The girls are learning the system. When I coached before, you always had those two or three grades that played for you in years past. You really only had to teach the freshman class. I’m coming in here where mostly everybody’s new, they haven’t played for me. It’s going to take a while to learn.
“We’ve had a couple scrimmages and played pretty well against Madison-Plains here, and then we went to Hillsboro and we got beat pretty bad at Hillsboro. We’ve improved on things that we’re trying to do.”
The issue for Whiteoak isn’t just getting more players out for the program in future seasons, but building a winning culture at Whiteoak once again, for a program that last won a conference championship in 2008 and a sectional title in 2007.
“I think the biggest thing is learning that we can win,” Smith said. “The beginning of the year, I took each player and had them set themselves an individual goal and a team goal. Out of the nine players, I had seven that just wanted to win a couple games.
“I had two that have never won a basketball game since they’ve been playing in junior high, so they’re just looking forward to winning a game. I think they’ve got to learn that they can win, that they’re not just playing to be playing. If they play hard, we’ve got a chance to win ball games.”
Building a program from the foundation up isn’t easy, so having a veteran coach like Smith leading the way is a positive the Lady Wildcats are happy to have, as Smith — despite not coaching for the past eight seasons — still watched most of Whiteoak’s games since he was last head coach.
“It’s tough,” Smith said in rebuilding the Lady Wildcats program. “I had a lot of talent when I was here before and went to regionals three years and won a sectional tournament 10 out of 11 years. To come in with not a whole lot of numbers, it’s a challenge.
“Finally, I decided I wasn’t going to apply anymore (for the coaching job), and Superintendent (Ted) Downing called me and asked me if I would consider coming back and trying to rebuild the program. I’m glad to be back. I’ve got a granddaughter that’s in junior high that’ll be up here in a couple years. I think there’s a program that can be built here, if we can get some more interest.
“I probably haven’t missed seven games in the eight years I’ve been gone. It helps me know a little about some of the girls I’ve got. I watched them last year and got an idea of what they are capable of. Hopefully we can get across the system we want to do and make things better.”
With Whiteoak lacking varsity experience, the goal of the Lady ’Cats is to just keep improving throughout the season, as that is how programs are built for the long run, which is the vision of Smith in his return to the program.
“Coming into the year, the expectation is to improve. I set a goal coming in that I want to win six games. I think that’s possible, but we have to improve to do that,” he said. “We played a lot of the teams over the summer in the summer league that we’re going to play this year in the season, and we played with them. We didn’t beat any of them, but we stayed close to a lot of them. I think with a little more organization and work, we can beat some of those teams.”
Getting back the winning attitude and gaining wins in the program won’t be an easy path playing in the SHAC, plus having a non-conference schedule featuring teams like East Clinton (Nov. 25), Paint Valley (Nov. 28), Westfall (Dec. 21), Huntington (Dec. 28), Silver Grove, Ky. (Jan. 13), Portsmouth Clay (Jan. 15), Northwest (Jan. 22), Notre Dame (Jan. 27) and Piketon (Feb. 3).
“Attitude is the team’s strength. We’ve got girls that haven’t played, girls that haven’t gotten much playing time, and other than Megan, there’s no one in there that’s had very much varsity time at all,” Smith said. “They’re all positive, and there have been no problems.
“We’re down to nine players for the entire program, but I’ve got nine players that want to play and want to get better, so I think the attitude’s the key point of our team
Smith — who last coached the Lady Wildcats during the 2009-10 season — replaces Randy Abbott as the head coach. Though the entire program has just nine players, he stated he has nine players who want to be in the program and are willing to put in the work to build the program back up to better days.
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Since Smith was last head coach, the Lady ’Cats program has seen three head coaches, and the program has not had a winning season. In the seven seasons since Smith last coached at Whiteoak, the Lady ’Cats program has 21 total wins. Last season, Whiteoak finished at 3-20 overall.
Entering this season, WHS has lost their top four scorers due to graduation in Maggie Carr (11 points per game), Chelsea Chisman (5.9 ppg), Lexi Jones (5.4 ppg) and Morgan Thompson (5 ppg).
“I’m glad to be back, but numbers are way down,” Smith said. “The program’s been down for four or five years and just can’t get girls to come out and play. We’ve got nine girls, all really good kids and good athletes, but lacking a little in basketball because they haven’t played.
“I’ve got three girls who’ve never played, so it’s going to be a long year. We’re not going to beat anybody very bad, but we’re hoping to build the program back up for the next few years.”
Whiteoak’s roster consists of two seniors in Megan Botts and Courtney Gross. The three juniors are Sydnie Raines, Sha Vanlieu and Hailey Monteith.
WHS has two sophomores in Cylee Bratton and Jordan Griggs, and the two freshmen are Kara Ward and Ariel Farahay.
“One of the seniors hasn’t ever played,” Smith said. “Courtney has never played basketball. Megan has, and Megan’s going to be the leader. She’s got to lead the team, her and Cylee Bratton. Cylee has really got to be our standout. She and Megan Botts are going to have to be our main scorers. The other girls are quick, they hustle, but they’re not a big scoring threat.
“The girls are learning the system. When I coached before, you always had those two or three grades that played for you in years past. You really only had to teach the freshman class. I’m coming in here where mostly everybody’s new, they haven’t played for me. It’s going to take a while to learn.
“We’ve had a couple scrimmages and played pretty well against Madison-Plains here, and then we went to Hillsboro and we got beat pretty bad at Hillsboro. We’ve improved on things that we’re trying to do.”
The issue for Whiteoak isn’t just getting more players out for the program in future seasons, but building a winning culture at Whiteoak once again, for a program that last won a conference championship in 2008 and a sectional title in 2007.
“I think the biggest thing is learning that we can win,” Smith said. “The beginning of the year, I took each player and had them set themselves an individual goal and a team goal. Out of the nine players, I had seven that just wanted to win a couple games.
“I had two that have never won a basketball game since they’ve been playing in junior high, so they’re just looking forward to winning a game. I think they’ve got to learn that they can win, that they’re not just playing to be playing. If they play hard, we’ve got a chance to win ball games.”
Building a program from the foundation up isn’t easy, so having a veteran coach like Smith leading the way is a positive the Lady Wildcats are happy to have, as Smith — despite not coaching for the past eight seasons — still watched most of Whiteoak’s games since he was last head coach.
“It’s tough,” Smith said in rebuilding the Lady Wildcats program. “I had a lot of talent when I was here before and went to regionals three years and won a sectional tournament 10 out of 11 years. To come in with not a whole lot of numbers, it’s a challenge.
“Finally, I decided I wasn’t going to apply anymore (for the coaching job), and Superintendent (Ted) Downing called me and asked me if I would consider coming back and trying to rebuild the program. I’m glad to be back. I’ve got a granddaughter that’s in junior high that’ll be up here in a couple years. I think there’s a program that can be built here, if we can get some more interest.
“I probably haven’t missed seven games in the eight years I’ve been gone. It helps me know a little about some of the girls I’ve got. I watched them last year and got an idea of what they are capable of. Hopefully we can get across the system we want to do and make things better.”
With Whiteoak lacking varsity experience, the goal of the Lady ’Cats is to just keep improving throughout the season, as that is how programs are built for the long run, which is the vision of Smith in his return to the program.
“Coming into the year, the expectation is to improve. I set a goal coming in that I want to win six games. I think that’s possible, but we have to improve to do that,” he said. “We played a lot of the teams over the summer in the summer league that we’re going to play this year in the season, and we played with them. We didn’t beat any of them, but we stayed close to a lot of them. I think with a little more organization and work, we can beat some of those teams.”
Getting back the winning attitude and gaining wins in the program won’t be an easy path playing in the SHAC, plus having a non-conference schedule featuring teams like East Clinton (Nov. 25), Paint Valley (Nov. 28), Westfall (Dec. 21), Huntington (Dec. 28), Silver Grove, Ky. (Jan. 13), Portsmouth Clay (Jan. 15), Northwest (Jan. 22), Notre Dame (Jan. 27) and Piketon (Feb. 3).
“Attitude is the team’s strength. We’ve got girls that haven’t played, girls that haven’t gotten much playing time, and other than Megan, there’s no one in there that’s had very much varsity time at all,” Smith said. “They’re all positive, and there have been no problems.
“We’re down to nine players for the entire program, but I’ve got nine players that want to play and want to get better, so I think the attitude’s the key point of our team