Team Preview: Can the Lady Tigers return to regionals?
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
For the McClain Lady Tigers, their goals are simple, but lofty for this upcoming season … to compete at a high level in the South Central Ohio League and make another tournament run, one that even bests their regional semifinal appearance one year ago.
With head coach Jarrod Haines entering his second season at the helm of the Lady Tigers, he and his coaching staff know they have a team that has great potential and a team that can possibly take the next step on the court during the 2014-15 season.
The Lady Tigers will field a team of four seniors, no juniors, seven sophomores and one freshman. The senior class consists of Shania Massie, Lauren Rayburn, Sarah Thompson and Sydney Barton.
McClain's sophomore class will be Taylor Polley, Malea Montavon, Beth Montgomery, Brooke Foody, Sara Bennett, Riley Williams and Lexie Barton. The lone freshman will be MiKenzie Coleman.
Last season, the Lady Tigers won a Division III SE District championship, finishing with an overall record of 15-8 and an SCOL mark of 7-5. In the postseason, MHS lost in the regional semifinals to Fairland, 64-42.
To reach the Sweet 16 and for the opportunity to play in the regionals, MHS defeated the Wellston Lady Golden Rockets, 57-31 for the district championship.
Also in the postseason, MHS defeated the Crooksville Lady Ceramics, 51-36 and Rock Hill by a 64-22 score.
[[In-content Ad]]Along with wanting to get even further in the postseason, the Lady Tigers also are nearing some history of their own with Massie zeroing in on the 1,000-point plateau. The senior point guard will enter the season with 968 career points, 32 points away from the milestone.
Massie, who was third-team All-Ohio for her overall play last season, is looking to become just the fifth player in the history of the Lady Tigers program to score 1,000 points, the first since Kate Hammond achieved the feat on Jan. 28, 2010 at MHS.
"Shania's has worked extremely hard," Haines said. "She's athletic enough to where she could just show up and be good, but she wants to be great, and she's spent all kinds of time in the gym with myself, Coach (Jesse) Mitchell and Coach (Matt) Shelton.
"She wants to get better. She has goals to play at the next level. It's been a nice ride to see for her. I just hope she can keep building on that, and we can make a deep run."
The MHS senior has a chance to achieve the feat at home, as the Lady Tigers open the season with two home games against Clinton-Massie on Wednesday, Dec. 3 and Wilmington on Saturday, Dec. 6.
One noticeable difference for the Lady Tigers from this season compared to last year are post players Katy Unger and Tara Karnes, who was an All-Ohio selection, have graduated, leaving a void of tough post play and leadership for MHS to replace. Karnes averaged 8.6 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game, and Unger averaged 4.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg.
The post players for MHS this season will be Montgomery and Montavon.
"We lost a lot, as far as leadership on inside. We're going to be looking for girls to fill those positions open by the graduation of Tara Karnes and Katy Unger, Katy Unger especially," Haines said. "The little things that she did for us, not everyone likes to do, and obviously Tara's presence inside will be greatly missed.
"Montavon and Montgomery will be post players. Beth is a very big presence inside offensively, can score. Malea is very athletic and long. The easy way to overcome (losing Karnes and Unger) is when you have Taylor (Polley) and Shania (Massie) coming back. What those two bring to us is just invaluable."
As for both Massie and Polley, Haines does have high expectations for the two guards on the team.
Massie is coming off a season where she scored 374 points, averaging 18.7 ppg, along with 5.2 rpg and 4.6 steals per game. Polley in her first varsity season averaged 6.3 ppg and 2.6 spg as a freshman.
"They've worked extremely hard to get better," Haines said of the guard duo. "We're going to be looking at Taylor to score a little bit more, and she's probably the best lock-down defender on the ball in southeast Ohio.
"Shania has a complete game, obviously, she's 32 points away from 1,000. It's going to be hard for teams to key in on both of them."
Besides the two guards, there are others the Lady Tigers need production from to repeat as district champions, with some of those players being Thompson and Rayburn.
"We have other girls who can step up and score," Haines said. "Part of the season, we're just going to have to get girls used to playing at this pace and slowing down and taking care of the basketball.
"Sarah has been a glue that's kind of kept us together, and Lauren has battled some summer and offseason injuries, but she's come on really strong. When she's in there defensively for us, we're just a whole different team."
One good thing about the Lady Tigers is they aren't resting on what they accomplished last season. They want to get even better and go further than they did one season ago.
"The girls are hungry, and they want to take another step," Haines said. "The big thing I've tried to stress to them is it's not going to be easy. We have to keep working our butts off, night in and night out.
"Thankfully, the SCOL helps us do that. It's going to be tough. It's going to be hard every night. There are not many pushovers. Even some of the teams that may not be as skillful as others, they're going to be playing their butts off and playing hard, so every night's going to be tough."
As for the SCOL schedule, the Lady Tigers want to be in the mix for the league championship. The last time MHS won a SCOL title was in 1991, and the last time they won a conference title was in 2003, when they played in the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference.
"We want to have something to say (in the league race)," Haines said. "Obviously, we want to be in the top of the league. We want to have our name right there in the mix coming down the stretch.
"We realize we have to take one game at a time and get better, but I think that we have a senior class that's committed. They've all stuck with it for four years."
Haines coached the current seniors when they were in the fifth grade.
"They kind of got thrown into a bad situation when they were sophomores and we didn't have any seniors," he said. "They had to play up probably earlier than what they should have. I think it's only made them better for this time, for their senior year.
"That experience has really prepared them. They understand what it takes to be successful because they've been at the bottom and they've had to work their way to the top. One special thing about this senior class is my first girls coaching gig was when they were in fifth grade, so I've had these girls since they were in fifth grade so they kind of hold a special place to me."
Assisting Haines this season will be coaches Jesse Mitchell, Matt Shelton and Audra (Cook) Branham, who is the JV coach.
With head coach Jarrod Haines entering his second season at the helm of the Lady Tigers, he and his coaching staff know they have a team that has great potential and a team that can possibly take the next step on the court during the 2014-15 season.
The Lady Tigers will field a team of four seniors, no juniors, seven sophomores and one freshman. The senior class consists of Shania Massie, Lauren Rayburn, Sarah Thompson and Sydney Barton.
McClain's sophomore class will be Taylor Polley, Malea Montavon, Beth Montgomery, Brooke Foody, Sara Bennett, Riley Williams and Lexie Barton. The lone freshman will be MiKenzie Coleman.
Last season, the Lady Tigers won a Division III SE District championship, finishing with an overall record of 15-8 and an SCOL mark of 7-5. In the postseason, MHS lost in the regional semifinals to Fairland, 64-42.
To reach the Sweet 16 and for the opportunity to play in the regionals, MHS defeated the Wellston Lady Golden Rockets, 57-31 for the district championship.
Also in the postseason, MHS defeated the Crooksville Lady Ceramics, 51-36 and Rock Hill by a 64-22 score.
[[In-content Ad]]Along with wanting to get even further in the postseason, the Lady Tigers also are nearing some history of their own with Massie zeroing in on the 1,000-point plateau. The senior point guard will enter the season with 968 career points, 32 points away from the milestone.
Massie, who was third-team All-Ohio for her overall play last season, is looking to become just the fifth player in the history of the Lady Tigers program to score 1,000 points, the first since Kate Hammond achieved the feat on Jan. 28, 2010 at MHS.
"Shania's has worked extremely hard," Haines said. "She's athletic enough to where she could just show up and be good, but she wants to be great, and she's spent all kinds of time in the gym with myself, Coach (Jesse) Mitchell and Coach (Matt) Shelton.
"She wants to get better. She has goals to play at the next level. It's been a nice ride to see for her. I just hope she can keep building on that, and we can make a deep run."
The MHS senior has a chance to achieve the feat at home, as the Lady Tigers open the season with two home games against Clinton-Massie on Wednesday, Dec. 3 and Wilmington on Saturday, Dec. 6.
One noticeable difference for the Lady Tigers from this season compared to last year are post players Katy Unger and Tara Karnes, who was an All-Ohio selection, have graduated, leaving a void of tough post play and leadership for MHS to replace. Karnes averaged 8.6 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game, and Unger averaged 4.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg.
The post players for MHS this season will be Montgomery and Montavon.
"We lost a lot, as far as leadership on inside. We're going to be looking for girls to fill those positions open by the graduation of Tara Karnes and Katy Unger, Katy Unger especially," Haines said. "The little things that she did for us, not everyone likes to do, and obviously Tara's presence inside will be greatly missed.
"Montavon and Montgomery will be post players. Beth is a very big presence inside offensively, can score. Malea is very athletic and long. The easy way to overcome (losing Karnes and Unger) is when you have Taylor (Polley) and Shania (Massie) coming back. What those two bring to us is just invaluable."
As for both Massie and Polley, Haines does have high expectations for the two guards on the team.
Massie is coming off a season where she scored 374 points, averaging 18.7 ppg, along with 5.2 rpg and 4.6 steals per game. Polley in her first varsity season averaged 6.3 ppg and 2.6 spg as a freshman.
"They've worked extremely hard to get better," Haines said of the guard duo. "We're going to be looking at Taylor to score a little bit more, and she's probably the best lock-down defender on the ball in southeast Ohio.
"Shania has a complete game, obviously, she's 32 points away from 1,000. It's going to be hard for teams to key in on both of them."
Besides the two guards, there are others the Lady Tigers need production from to repeat as district champions, with some of those players being Thompson and Rayburn.
"We have other girls who can step up and score," Haines said. "Part of the season, we're just going to have to get girls used to playing at this pace and slowing down and taking care of the basketball.
"Sarah has been a glue that's kind of kept us together, and Lauren has battled some summer and offseason injuries, but she's come on really strong. When she's in there defensively for us, we're just a whole different team."
One good thing about the Lady Tigers is they aren't resting on what they accomplished last season. They want to get even better and go further than they did one season ago.
"The girls are hungry, and they want to take another step," Haines said. "The big thing I've tried to stress to them is it's not going to be easy. We have to keep working our butts off, night in and night out.
"Thankfully, the SCOL helps us do that. It's going to be tough. It's going to be hard every night. There are not many pushovers. Even some of the teams that may not be as skillful as others, they're going to be playing their butts off and playing hard, so every night's going to be tough."
As for the SCOL schedule, the Lady Tigers want to be in the mix for the league championship. The last time MHS won a SCOL title was in 1991, and the last time they won a conference title was in 2003, when they played in the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference.
"We want to have something to say (in the league race)," Haines said. "Obviously, we want to be in the top of the league. We want to have our name right there in the mix coming down the stretch.
"We realize we have to take one game at a time and get better, but I think that we have a senior class that's committed. They've all stuck with it for four years."
Haines coached the current seniors when they were in the fifth grade.
"They kind of got thrown into a bad situation when they were sophomores and we didn't have any seniors," he said. "They had to play up probably earlier than what they should have. I think it's only made them better for this time, for their senior year.
"That experience has really prepared them. They understand what it takes to be successful because they've been at the bottom and they've had to work their way to the top. One special thing about this senior class is my first girls coaching gig was when they were in fifth grade, so I've had these girls since they were in fifth grade so they kind of hold a special place to me."
Assisting Haines this season will be coaches Jesse Mitchell, Matt Shelton and Audra (Cook) Branham, who is the JV coach.