Team Preview: Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The upcoming season for the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs will feature not only their third head coach in as many years, but this season will feature former standout Whitney Lewis at the helm, leading the Lady Mustangs for the first time as a head varsity coach.
Lewis is replacing Tiffany Barnett, who in her one year as head coach of the Lady Mustangs led LC to the district finals with an overall record of 15-8 with a Southern Hills League mark of 7-6.
Now with Lewis at the helm (she coached JV last season), she too understands what Lady Mustang basketball stands for, as she holds numerous school records from her playing days at LC. Also from her playing days, she became an inaugural member of the Lynchburg-Clay Athletic Hall of Fame, and she has her jersey number retired at the school as well.
Now she looks forward to the next part of her LC life … as head coach of the varsity basketball team.
"It’s fun, challenging and there is a lot to it," Lewis said, when asked what has it been like so far as head coach. "I'm interested in seeing what the season will be like. The toughest part is making sure I have everything covered. There is so much to cover in practice. You have to make sure you have an offense, defense and everything in between … you just have to make sure you cover it all.
"It's my job to make sure these ladies are prepared for each game, and it is just a lot of work making sure everything is taken care of."
This 2011-12 Lady Mustangs will send two seniors to the court in four-year player Brooke Hertlein and three-year player Karen Hilt, who was the first person off the bench last season.
"It’s a whole new year, and we have a whole new group of kids," Lewis said. "They are great to work with, and I'm lucky to have such a great group to work with my first year.
"We are expecting a lot from our returning players. Nothing is given, but our returning starters will play a significant role on this team."
Besides the two seniors, the team will include juniors Ginny Gadzinski, Laney Lewis, Emma Setty and Ashley Tenas; sophomores Sarah Spidel and Sarah Rosselott; and freshmen Morgan Fittro, Madysyn Creighton and Samantha Whitenack.
Laney Lewis is a returning starter as well, as the Lady Mustangs lost four seniors to graduation from last year. Those players were Lillian Blankenship, Meredith Fittro, Hannah Blankenship and Lisa Rhonemus. Of the four lost from last year, three were starters, and those three were all guards.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do this year and seeing how it goes," Lewis said. "I've approached this as everybody is going to earn their spot. If I have a kid on the JV team who is stepping up, they will get that varsity opportunity, too. It makes practice real competitive. It makes games real competitive, and the players, they want to be here.
"They want to do well, so I think that is going to help a little bit. Nothing is in cement … any player who isn't playing up to par, they can sit the bench, too. Spots on the varsity roster are earned, and that's how it will be from freshmen up to seniors."
As mentioned, LC lost three guards from this year; the question is how they will fill in those roles.
"Again, whoever is playing the best will be our guards," Lewis said. "Last year, Lillian Blankenship was our point guard, she took over that spot last season. We lost a majority of our guard play."
The strengths of LC is their character of the players.
"I can’t comment enough on what type of kids we have in our program. Our practices are competitive, we work non-stop in those practices, and the kids want to be here and that helps tremendously," Lewis said. "Sometimes that is half the battle, so having kids who want to be here is a major plus.
"I'm hoping our team is quick, fast and I want us to be aggressive. I don't know if that is a strength because sometimes I think that can be our weakness, too. It might get us into trouble some, but we'll have to wait and see."
Lewis said she's looking for her seniors to be the leaders.
"Brooke and Karen are good kids. They are good students and are students of the game," she said. "They were leaders on their soccer team, and they did really well. I'm hoping they can translate that over to the basketball floor.
"Having said that, I'm looking for everyone to step up, Not necessarily into that leadership role, but I want everyone to step up to the role that will best help our team."
What will the style of play be like this season?
"I don't really get into the style of play too much. I just want us to play hard and aggressive. Our play is going to be beat the other team," Lewis said. "As far as style we want to be an in your face defense. When teams get done playing us I want them to say we played hard and they don't want to play us again because we are playing hard and playing good defense.
"The girls are excited for the season, I can see that by their attitude in practice. There isn't a day goes by I don't let them forget when our first game is. I don't let them forget who is in our league and what type of competition we are going to be playing against. We are preparing for a battle all season long."
"I don't really get into the style of play too much. I just want us to play hard and aggressive. Our play is going to be beat the other team," Lewis said. "As far as style, we want to be an in-your-face defense. When teams get done playing us, I want them to say we played hard, and they don't want to play us again because we are playing hard and playing good defense.
"The girls are excited for the season, I can see that by their attitude in practice. There isn't a day goes by I don't let them forget when our first game is. I don't let them forget who is in our league and what type of competition we are going to be playing against. We are preparing for a battle all season long."[[In-content Ad]]
Lewis is replacing Tiffany Barnett, who in her one year as head coach of the Lady Mustangs led LC to the district finals with an overall record of 15-8 with a Southern Hills League mark of 7-6.
Now with Lewis at the helm (she coached JV last season), she too understands what Lady Mustang basketball stands for, as she holds numerous school records from her playing days at LC. Also from her playing days, she became an inaugural member of the Lynchburg-Clay Athletic Hall of Fame, and she has her jersey number retired at the school as well.
Now she looks forward to the next part of her LC life … as head coach of the varsity basketball team.
"It’s fun, challenging and there is a lot to it," Lewis said, when asked what has it been like so far as head coach. "I'm interested in seeing what the season will be like. The toughest part is making sure I have everything covered. There is so much to cover in practice. You have to make sure you have an offense, defense and everything in between … you just have to make sure you cover it all.
"It's my job to make sure these ladies are prepared for each game, and it is just a lot of work making sure everything is taken care of."
This 2011-12 Lady Mustangs will send two seniors to the court in four-year player Brooke Hertlein and three-year player Karen Hilt, who was the first person off the bench last season.
"It’s a whole new year, and we have a whole new group of kids," Lewis said. "They are great to work with, and I'm lucky to have such a great group to work with my first year.
"We are expecting a lot from our returning players. Nothing is given, but our returning starters will play a significant role on this team."
Besides the two seniors, the team will include juniors Ginny Gadzinski, Laney Lewis, Emma Setty and Ashley Tenas; sophomores Sarah Spidel and Sarah Rosselott; and freshmen Morgan Fittro, Madysyn Creighton and Samantha Whitenack.
Laney Lewis is a returning starter as well, as the Lady Mustangs lost four seniors to graduation from last year. Those players were Lillian Blankenship, Meredith Fittro, Hannah Blankenship and Lisa Rhonemus. Of the four lost from last year, three were starters, and those three were all guards.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do this year and seeing how it goes," Lewis said. "I've approached this as everybody is going to earn their spot. If I have a kid on the JV team who is stepping up, they will get that varsity opportunity, too. It makes practice real competitive. It makes games real competitive, and the players, they want to be here.
"They want to do well, so I think that is going to help a little bit. Nothing is in cement … any player who isn't playing up to par, they can sit the bench, too. Spots on the varsity roster are earned, and that's how it will be from freshmen up to seniors."
As mentioned, LC lost three guards from this year; the question is how they will fill in those roles.
"Again, whoever is playing the best will be our guards," Lewis said. "Last year, Lillian Blankenship was our point guard, she took over that spot last season. We lost a majority of our guard play."
The strengths of LC is their character of the players.
"I can’t comment enough on what type of kids we have in our program. Our practices are competitive, we work non-stop in those practices, and the kids want to be here and that helps tremendously," Lewis said. "Sometimes that is half the battle, so having kids who want to be here is a major plus.
"I'm hoping our team is quick, fast and I want us to be aggressive. I don't know if that is a strength because sometimes I think that can be our weakness, too. It might get us into trouble some, but we'll have to wait and see."
Lewis said she's looking for her seniors to be the leaders.
"Brooke and Karen are good kids. They are good students and are students of the game," she said. "They were leaders on their soccer team, and they did really well. I'm hoping they can translate that over to the basketball floor.
"Having said that, I'm looking for everyone to step up, Not necessarily into that leadership role, but I want everyone to step up to the role that will best help our team."
What will the style of play be like this season?
"I don't really get into the style of play too much. I just want us to play hard and aggressive. Our play is going to be beat the other team," Lewis said. "As far as style we want to be an in your face defense. When teams get done playing us I want them to say we played hard and they don't want to play us again because we are playing hard and playing good defense.
"The girls are excited for the season, I can see that by their attitude in practice. There isn't a day goes by I don't let them forget when our first game is. I don't let them forget who is in our league and what type of competition we are going to be playing against. We are preparing for a battle all season long."
"I don't really get into the style of play too much. I just want us to play hard and aggressive. Our play is going to be beat the other team," Lewis said. "As far as style, we want to be an in-your-face defense. When teams get done playing us, I want them to say we played hard, and they don't want to play us again because we are playing hard and playing good defense.
"The girls are excited for the season, I can see that by their attitude in practice. There isn't a day goes by I don't let them forget when our first game is. I don't let them forget who is in our league and what type of competition we are going to be playing against. We are preparing for a battle all season long."[[In-content Ad]]