2018-19 Whiteoak Lady Wildcats Basketball Preview
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Last season, the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats welcomed back veteran head coach Steve Smith to lead the program once again. Though the results weren’t what they had hoped, some experience was gained, and that brings them to the 2018-19 season, where the Lady Wildcats look to take another step forward in the long rebuild of their program.
For Smith, this is his 15th overall year as the head coach at Whiteoak, and this season he has 10 players listed on the varsity roster who are going to be needed to compete in a season where a lot of unknowns await. Of the 10 players, WHS has three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and one freshman.
[[In-content Ad]]
The seniors this season are Sha Vanlieu, Hailey Monteith and Emily Holladay. The two juniors for Whiteoak are Lizz Edwards and Cylee Bratton. The four sophomores include Ariel Farahay, Kara Ward, Kayla Jones and Karlie Taylor, while the lone freshman is Sky Leston.
Bratton led WHS in scoring last season at 8.8 points per game.
“Cylee should have a good year. She was our leading scorer last year as a sophomore,” Smith said. “She’s a junior, and she’s probably the best player we’ve got. Kara Ward played point guard as a freshman last year, so she’s got a year of experience.
“Lizz Edwards, the other junior, played her freshman year and didn’t play last year. She gives us a little more size in the post. She’s a real aggressive rebounder. We’re going to play a couple girls who haven’t played a whole lot. Kayla Jones played a little last year, but she had an ankle problem and was hurt most of the year. I look to play everybody. They’re all going to get playing time.”
After finishing 1-22 last season (0-13 in the SHAC), with their lone win coming against Silver Grove, Ky., the Lady ’Cats are ahead in some aspects of basketball compared to this point a season ago, but there is still a lot of work to be done, according to Coach Smith.
“To a certain point, I think we’re ahead [from last year] because we’ve got a lot of returning players that played for me last year,” Smith said. “I think it’s an advantage starting into this year. In the same thing, we’re behind. Megan [Botts] was our team leader. She had the most experience, and we lost her (to graduation). We’ve got to find somebody to step up and be a leader. Kara Ward has been a point guard and is doing a pretty good job so far.”
In losing Botts, the Lady Wildcats lose a player who averaged 6.1 ppg. in the regular season. Also gone is Courtney Gross at 3.6 ppg.
Having a lot against them going into the season with 10 players still gaining experience at the varsity level, Smith still is excited for aspects of the upcoming season, and that includes the junior high levels, too.
“Going into this year, I’ve got a good nucleus to build toward next year again,” he said. “I’m trying to build the program back up. It’s going to take three or four years. Our eighth grade class has only got three girls playing this year. We’re not going to gain a whole lot that year, but then the seventh grade class has got 13 that’s got a lot of good athletes.
“There’s eight or nine of them who are really good athletes. Just looking toward the future, I’m excited. I think the future’s going to be better. We’re going to take some lumps, but I think we’ve improved.”
Playing in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference isn’t an easy feat for any team, especially for a program that is rebuilding and gaining experience on the go.
“Our league is strong,” Smith said. “Eastern Brown’s always going to be strong, Lynchburg’s going to be strong, Fairfield’s still going to be strong even though they lost (Grace) Shope. They’ve still got a lot of talent back.
“I think Eastern, Fairfield, Peebles and Lynchburg-Clay will be the top four teams in our league. We’re going to be somewhere middle to bottom with Ripley, West Union and Manchester. Fayetteville’s kind of middle of the road. I think it’s basically a four-team league, two in each division, and the rest of it’s going to be pretty even.”
This year’s team has goals and wants to compete at their best overall level possible, and Smith wants to see his team improve on the court compared to last season.
“There’s a nucleus of five or six of the girls that played last year that came back and are excited to play,” Smith said. “Yeah, they’d like to win a few more games, have a little more success, but they’re here every day and work hard every day.”
As for the non-conference schedule for the Lady Wildcats, teams include: East Clinton, Piketon, Notre Dame, Zane Trace, Westfall, Paint Valley, Portsmouth Clay, Northwest and Sciotoville East.
“Last year, we took several losses by 40-plus points,” Smith said. “My goal is to stay in games that we’ve got a chance to win. I’d like to cut that margin of loss down to where we’re at least competing in games. I think the more we can compete, maybe we can get some more girls and to play.
“Maybe everybody’s been down because the program’s been down. It’s hard to get any participation. They just don’t want to play. If we can start competing, win a few games, I think for the future, some of the other girls may come back to play again.”
Whiteoak begins the season on the road in a non-conference game at East Clinton on Saturday, Nov. 24.
For Smith, this is his 15th overall year as the head coach at Whiteoak, and this season he has 10 players listed on the varsity roster who are going to be needed to compete in a season where a lot of unknowns await. Of the 10 players, WHS has three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and one freshman.
[[In-content Ad]]
The seniors this season are Sha Vanlieu, Hailey Monteith and Emily Holladay. The two juniors for Whiteoak are Lizz Edwards and Cylee Bratton. The four sophomores include Ariel Farahay, Kara Ward, Kayla Jones and Karlie Taylor, while the lone freshman is Sky Leston.
Bratton led WHS in scoring last season at 8.8 points per game.
“Cylee should have a good year. She was our leading scorer last year as a sophomore,” Smith said. “She’s a junior, and she’s probably the best player we’ve got. Kara Ward played point guard as a freshman last year, so she’s got a year of experience.
“Lizz Edwards, the other junior, played her freshman year and didn’t play last year. She gives us a little more size in the post. She’s a real aggressive rebounder. We’re going to play a couple girls who haven’t played a whole lot. Kayla Jones played a little last year, but she had an ankle problem and was hurt most of the year. I look to play everybody. They’re all going to get playing time.”
After finishing 1-22 last season (0-13 in the SHAC), with their lone win coming against Silver Grove, Ky., the Lady ’Cats are ahead in some aspects of basketball compared to this point a season ago, but there is still a lot of work to be done, according to Coach Smith.
“To a certain point, I think we’re ahead [from last year] because we’ve got a lot of returning players that played for me last year,” Smith said. “I think it’s an advantage starting into this year. In the same thing, we’re behind. Megan [Botts] was our team leader. She had the most experience, and we lost her (to graduation). We’ve got to find somebody to step up and be a leader. Kara Ward has been a point guard and is doing a pretty good job so far.”
In losing Botts, the Lady Wildcats lose a player who averaged 6.1 ppg. in the regular season. Also gone is Courtney Gross at 3.6 ppg.
Having a lot against them going into the season with 10 players still gaining experience at the varsity level, Smith still is excited for aspects of the upcoming season, and that includes the junior high levels, too.
“Going into this year, I’ve got a good nucleus to build toward next year again,” he said. “I’m trying to build the program back up. It’s going to take three or four years. Our eighth grade class has only got three girls playing this year. We’re not going to gain a whole lot that year, but then the seventh grade class has got 13 that’s got a lot of good athletes.
“There’s eight or nine of them who are really good athletes. Just looking toward the future, I’m excited. I think the future’s going to be better. We’re going to take some lumps, but I think we’ve improved.”
Playing in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference isn’t an easy feat for any team, especially for a program that is rebuilding and gaining experience on the go.
“Our league is strong,” Smith said. “Eastern Brown’s always going to be strong, Lynchburg’s going to be strong, Fairfield’s still going to be strong even though they lost (Grace) Shope. They’ve still got a lot of talent back.
“I think Eastern, Fairfield, Peebles and Lynchburg-Clay will be the top four teams in our league. We’re going to be somewhere middle to bottom with Ripley, West Union and Manchester. Fayetteville’s kind of middle of the road. I think it’s basically a four-team league, two in each division, and the rest of it’s going to be pretty even.”
This year’s team has goals and wants to compete at their best overall level possible, and Smith wants to see his team improve on the court compared to last season.
“There’s a nucleus of five or six of the girls that played last year that came back and are excited to play,” Smith said. “Yeah, they’d like to win a few more games, have a little more success, but they’re here every day and work hard every day.”
As for the non-conference schedule for the Lady Wildcats, teams include: East Clinton, Piketon, Notre Dame, Zane Trace, Westfall, Paint Valley, Portsmouth Clay, Northwest and Sciotoville East.
“Last year, we took several losses by 40-plus points,” Smith said. “My goal is to stay in games that we’ve got a chance to win. I’d like to cut that margin of loss down to where we’re at least competing in games. I think the more we can compete, maybe we can get some more girls and to play.
“Maybe everybody’s been down because the program’s been down. It’s hard to get any participation. They just don’t want to play. If we can start competing, win a few games, I think for the future, some of the other girls may come back to play again.”
Whiteoak begins the season on the road in a non-conference game at East Clinton on Saturday, Nov. 24.