Transition in the city

By Rick Teverbaugh, Herald Bulletin Sports Editor

November 09, 2009 08:19 am

— ANDERSON — Highland’s new girls varsity basketball coach Chad Cook is getting help from a pair of junior leaders as the Scots make the transition to the 2009-10 season.
“Jessika Lark and Krosley Ogden have helped a lot,” said Cook. “They are our best players and our hardest workers. The rest of the girls are following suit.”
Highland is still a relatively young team with just three seniors, Holly Matthews, Haley Brown and Sydni Cleckley. There are six juniors, no sophomores and two freshmen.
“I like what we’re seeing,” said Cook. “We’re coming off a 6-16 season. We want to make sure we teach them to do things the right way.”
But there are still some questions about what the team will actually look like when the players take the floor.
“That remains to be seen with us,” said Cook. “We want to harness down the defense. I’d like to see us shoot a lot of layups and that comes from defense. But we will still be able to play in the half-court. I played under (former Highland) coach Darner, so I think I know half-court defense.”

Anderson
There’s little doubt that replacing scoring will be the top priority for the Indians. The team lost Jasmine McGhee and Bryesha McCullough. “That was 32 points we lost right there,” said coach Randy Harrison. “We have to find someone to step up, fill the void and score.”
Two seniors, three sophomores and two freshmen will see a lot of the varsity playing time. Dominique Davis and Janelle Davis are the seniors. The sophomores are Crysphena Hill, Bruna Braxton and Denielle Davis. The freshmen are twins Savannah and Sharice Davis.
“We ran the players through the Anderson University summer league and they played well,” said Harrison. “We’ve got athletic, great kids. We are going to be small and fast. If we can’t defend and can’t deny, then we’re going to be in trouble.”
There are five juniors on the varsity roster. Ciedre McDonald could be one of the most critical from that class and she is going to be looked at as a post player.

Liberty Christian
There are expectations of improvement this season and much of that optimism is based around a group of five upperclassmen.
“Our girls have made a lot of improvements over the past year,” said Jason Chappell, the schools’ athletic director and boys basketball coach speaking for girls coach Michael Carey.
“We have a core group of five girls who start in volleyball, basketball and softball,” said Chappell. “These five are Karon Earley, Riley Ramsey, Erika Lindley, Shelley Lehman and Jessica Polhamus. They have jelled and it is helping them in every sport. Their footwork, ball handling and shooting have improved dramatically.”
Liberty Christian has most of its team returning from a year ago.
“We only lost one senior,” said Chappell. “We added some more athletes as well. Junior post player Laura McConnell should make an impact and so should freshman guard Briana Ayers. The Lady Lions should experience some major success with this lineup.”

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