Youth movement inspiring anticipated Clover improvement

Saturday, October 29, 2016
Hailey Thomas leads the fast break in practice on Tuesday.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

Cloverdale coach Matthew Langdon can see several signs that his program is on the rise.

The Clovers have had eight straight losing seasons, but the enthusiasm shown by his current squad leads Langdon to know that positive changes are coming.

“You can just see it in the attitude of the girls,” he said. “They were anticipating the tryouts, and sometimes they’re just anticipating the first game. We’ve had a lot of girls at our open gyms in preseason, up to as many as 15 or 16 at preseason workouts, which is a lot for a small school.”

The effort and intensity have also been great in the start of practice, Langdon said.

“The first week of practice has gone great,” he said. “Everybody has a really positive outlook on the season. We have some new goals that we’ve never had before – hopefully that are achievable – in terms of winning seasons, county, conference and sectional. I think with the increased excitement we are looking at better results.”

Langdon knows he doesn’t have a particularly tall team, so he is planning to adjust his strategies to fit his personnel.

“With our team this year, we are definitely trying to be the fastest team on the floor,” he said. “We don’t have necessarily a lot of height, but we can put some lineups on the floor where everyone can handle the ball, and on the defensive side can all put on pressure.”

Langdon’s team has some length on defense, if not a lot of height, and he said that is a great benefit.

“We have been able to get steals and turnovers and push, push, push to get fast break points,” he said. “We are going to try to get some easy baskets.”

Youth will be served this year with the Clovers, adding to the enthusiasm for the program’s bright future.

“Probably over half of our key players will be freshmen or sophomores,” Langdon said. “We only have five upperclassmen in our program right now.”

Freshman point guard Hailey Thomas, whose father [Greg] was a standout player at Indiana State in the early 1990s, is among those who will inherit big roles. Her father still ranks in the top 10 at ISU in 3-point field goals made, 3-point percentage, free throws made and minutes played.

Thomas is well versed fundamentally, using her off hand well when pushing the ball up the court and displaying excellent court vision.

“Hailey played the point 95 percent of the time this summer against some really competition,” Langdon noted. “We went to the Vincennes team camp, which is something we’ve never been able to do before, and she played well against some much bigger teams like Avon. To see her play that well against such quality opponents was encouraging.”

Sammie Shrum, who stands 5-9, is another freshma’n who Langdon expects to contribute immediately.

“Both Hailey and Sammie will play significant minutes and have huge roles on the team,” he said. “It’s always great to have a backcourt with Hailey, and even Sammie, to help out when teams try to press.

Tori Combs came in as a freshman last year and averaged basically a double-double (11 points, 8.5 rebounds). We see them both making the same kind of impact this season.

“Mix in some experience from players like Kelsey Helterbrand, Abby Walker, Lauren Meek and Payten Simpson and it makes a nice combination,” he added.

Sophomore Grace Rightmyer will see a lot of time at forward, also.

“Many times we will have four guards out there,” Langdon said. “Helterbrand isn’t very big, but she plays tough inside as a rebounder and will also see time at a forward spot.

“Having Tori as our five on offense will be a huge advantage with her quickness.”

Langdon notes that halfcourt offense is the biggest part of the game that all girls’ coaches will have to address with the shorter practice window.

“One of the challenges everybody is facing is not having your volleyball girls until the second week,” he said. “You can do a lot of drills, and girls can get shots up, but your scrimmage time is limited. In live action, you can put all the pieces together.”

Langdon isn’t worried about having less practice time on making steals and getting points in transition.

“The halfcourt set is going to be much tougher early in the season,” he said. “Seeing the openings and running your offense is going to take longer to develop. We need to be able to play against zones, as well, and work the ball without just relying on the outside shot.

“We need to be more comfortable doing that early in the year.”

Roster

Kelsey Helterbrand 5-4 Sr.

Sammie Shrum 5-9 Fr.

Grace Rightmyer 5-8 So.

Payten Simpson 5-8 Sr.

Abby Walker 5-2 Jr.

Lauren Meek 5-4 Sr.

Tori Combs 5-9 So.

Hailey Thomas 5-7 Fr.

2016-17 schedule

(Times listed are varsity tipoff)

Nov. 1 — Turkey Run 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 4 — Riverton Parke 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 8 — at North Central (Farmersburg) 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 12 — at Shakamak 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 18-19 — Putnam County Tournament

Nov. 26 — Eastern Greene 1:30 p.m.

Nov. 29 — North Putnam 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 2 — Edgewood 6 p.m.

Dec. 6 — at Eminence 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 9 — Indian Creek 6 p.m.

Dec. 16 — at Brown County 6 p.m.

Dec. 20 — at Greencastle 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 27 — Monrovia Tournament

Jan. 2 — at Clay City 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 6 — at Owen Valley 6 p.m.

Jan. 10 — at West Vigo 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 13 — at Cascade 6 p.m.

Jan. 17 — Rockville 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 20 — Western Indiana Conference playoffs

Jan. 26 — at South Putnam 7:30 p.m.

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