With a new coach comes a new philosophy and a new feeling of hope that the South Wasco County girls’ basketball team can rebuild its roster to contend with the elite teams across the 1A landscape.
So far, under head coach Bill Mead and assistant Randy Barton, the Lady Redsides have won one game and lost five games, two by 10 points or less.
Since it is only December, Mead is bringing his team along slowly so that they can fully grasp the system and hit the ground running when league play continues in early January.
One reason for optimism is the fact that the Redsides had their best scoring output against a Dufur Ranger team on Dec. 20 that was ranked near the top of 1A class in defensive scoring.
“I thought we played really well. We have come a long ways from the first couple of games,” Mead said after the 58-43 Dufur loss. “They are starting to figure out the offense a little bit better. We still have to work on some defense, but I think they are doing really well.”
With the loss of some height and experience in graduated seniors Zoe Morelli, Sonya Schmitz and Joy Kelly, South Wasco County is smaller in stature, but the players add a vast repertoire to the hardwood.
“We do not have the height that SWC has had in the past, so we will need to really on our quickness,” Mead said.
The Redside coach emphasizes a team-first element across his varsity and junior varsity rosters, with seniors Peggy Espeland, Shelby moody, Molly Foreaker, Paris McCartney, Roxanne O’Neal and Lisa McNamee providing the veteran intangibles to this group.
Much of that teamwork came to light in the Dufur game where nine different players hit the scoresheet on 20 field goals.
“This is a great group of young ladies to work with and they are extremely eager to please and do whatever I have asked of them,” Mead added. “Fans can expect to see a group of girls that never give up and work hard.”
Added to that senior mix is Ally Muhleman, Cassie Davis, Tatum Hahn, Malia Collins, Allie Noland and Kiana Moody, for a Redside squad that won 10 games and finished third in the Big Sky Conference standings with a 4-3 record last year.
At one point in the season, spanning from Jan. 17 to Jan. 31, the Redsides averaged 48.2 points a game and won four of five contests to become a viable threat in the Big Sky Conference.
The season was cut short 39-15 by Echo in a district game on Feb. 20.
This team will look for more consistency on both sides of the court, as the offense ranked 27th in the state at 38.8 points allowed a game.
Defensively, the Lady Redsides gave up 38.6 points a clip, good for 32nd in the 65-team 1A classification.
One caveat to those numbers is when the offense and defense is flowing, SWC wins games.
When the defense allowed 33 points or fewer, they were 9-0, and offensively, when the group came together and hit some shots, they were 7-0 when racking up 45 or more points in a tilt.
Defense is the area of focus, Mead is highlighting early in the 2014-2015 campaign.
“We have had limited practice time due to weather and school cancellations, but are working on learning how to play a strong defense,” the coach said. “That is my philosophy toward winning games. I have an excellent support system in my JV/assistant coach Randy Barton, along with Jason Birman, our junior high coach. Between the three of us, we hope to build a successful program for years to come.”
The Big Sky Conference went through a bit of a facelift in the offseason with Echo, Nixyaawii, Griswold and Central Christian now out. Mitchell/Spray is new to the mix and will join Ione, Condon-Wheeler, Arlington, Horizon Christian, Dufur, South Wasco County and Sherman.
That group of eight are now one division as opposed to an east and west bracket, so every team plays each other twice.
The top four teams earn district berths, but there are crossover games prior to the tournament, so the No. 5 and 6 seeds get action to play in.
With all of that, there still are some big gunners at Horizon, new faces in Sherman, Ione and South Wasco County and Mitchell/Spray, Condon and Arlington figure to be threats.
“Regarding the Big Sky League, we currently have the state champion as a part of it in Condon Wheeler,” Mead said. “Dufur has some great athletes, as evidence of their second-place state finish in volleyball. It will be important during each game to play up to our potential. We will be taking one game at a time and will see what each night brings.”
The Redsides next pay host to Echo in a non-league game at 4 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29 in Maupin.
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