The 2008 Lady Eagles basketball team is looking forward to getting the character-building experiences that last season provided behind them and to show the Fort Ancient Valley Conference how Eagles respond to adversity. The squad is poised to take advantage of the senior leadership that will guide the energetic youth, now on the roster, through a successful 2008-2009 season. Four players are returning from last season’s Lady Eagle squad, including three seniors. Leading by example for this years young team will be the very talented senior Alison Nagle, a member of last years’ FAVC 1st Team All stars. Her experience and sharp-shooting will be relied on heavily this season and hopefully she can pick up where she left off last season to dominate the league once again. Our powerful presence in the paint and the team’s leading rebounder, senior Kim Strunk, will provide her Puritan work ethic and motivation to inspire this team to reach new heights. Battling Kim will be fellow senior post-player Kayla Kreyenhagen, whose tough defense will help shut the opposing team’s post-players down. The final player from last year’s varsity squad will be Junior Amy Van Syoc whose vast basketball intellect and overall court awareness will provide a big lift to this roster. Mainly a JV player last season but did start in the Varsity Glen Este game, junior Chelsea Gilman will add her unique talents to the varsity team on a permanent basis. The rest of the team will be making their Varsity début. Juniors that will be constantly pushing their teammates for playing time will be two guards in Abbie Rutherford and Taya Jones. An impressive sophomore, Tori Calderhead, who was a leader of the JV team last year as the starting point guard, is looked upon to be a major contributing force on the Varsity level. And rounding out this seasons Varsity team is freshman phenom Morgan Wolcott.
A new offensive set has been devised to take advantage of this very athletic team and we will be looking to put pressure on our opponents both offensively and defensively.
Once again, there have been some slight changes in the coaching staff for this coming season. Coach Shane Ferguson, last season’s Varsity Assistant, has taken over the Head Coaching responsibilities at Goshen High School. His position will be filled by Lisa Hutzelman, who was a four-year starter at Lakota West and played college ball for Miami of Middletown before landing on the staff at Milford. Her energy and basketball knowledge will greatly contribute to the success of the program. Staci Thomas, who used to known as Staci Stevens before taking the leap, will coach the JV team again this year with the help of Mark Behlert, taken from the staff of Mariemont. Coach Behlert will also assist the returning Freshman coach, Geoff Wahl. |
