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2022-23 GIRLS' BASKETBALL PREVIEWS: Eagles pivot to sophomore-heavy squad to return to top spots
Following a fourth sectional title in five years, South Putnam took a step back in the 2021-22 season, finishing 10-13 and 4-6 in WIC play.
Even more changes are on the horizon for the Eagles with Putnam County Player of the Year Brie Miller among three departures that take the top three scorers out of a squad that lacks experience but, like others, has plenty of young players looking for time on the court.
South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said despite plenty of new faces, the work put in during the summer was showing.
“Things in the first week have been good,” Gardner said. “The biggest thing with a young group is getting intensity at the level they need to see for varsity competition.
“The good thing about having the summers the way they are now is you have a lot of stuff that is familiar for the girls and some of the drills you have already done in the summer which makes less time of explaining how to do the drills and just getting better.”
The Eagles have a sole returning senior from last year in Kelsey Custis (3.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.5 apg) while Emma Jeter joins as a second senior while Joscelyn Pilcher (2.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg) is the only junior in the squad.
After that, South Putnam will be relying on a large sophomore group to fill out the varsity roster in Danae Cline (3.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.4 spg), Chlara Pistelli, Lillian Emmerich, Ariel Dooley, Madison Gardner, Lexi Phillips, Reagan Wallace, Mariah Wilson and Zoe Eaglin while freshmen Emily Benton, Lyla Holderfield, LJ Switzer, Layla Mullin and Katherine Kempf join the squad.
With three of the five varsity starting spots open and little few experienced players to fill the openings, Gardner said the offense will have to come from a collective approach.
“At this point I believe it will be different players on different nights,” Gardner said about who would pick up the scoring slack. “I think we will be able to have a more balanced look when it comes to scoring.
“We have several girls that are capable of being able to score the ball. I believe that Kelsey, Joscelyn Pilcher and Chlara all will pick up a lot of the scoring.
“Danae will still be our leader on the floor from the point guard position and she will have to look to score more than she did last year,” Gardner added. “Madison and Emmalyn will have to play big roles in the post.
“We will be more of a smaller line up as we have been in the past. Losing a post threat like Brie is extremely hard to do but I feel that Madison and Emmalyn will be able to hold the fort down in the post.”
Even with the squad lacking the experience of previous campaigns, Gardner said the expectations for the squad were not going to dip, even as the team feels its way though the early part of the season.
“One of the great things about the success of the groups before is the way that our feeder system is run where our high school girls are around the younger girls and able to help teach and coach them when they are younger,” Gardner said. “Those girls are gone from those years but the identity of the teams before them are always present.
“There is an expectation of playing hard, playing together for each other and working hard to get success. This team is going to be no different.
“We have tough games early and it gets us ready for the intensity of varsity basketball. The biggest thing for us early is going to be figuring out roles within our group and getting used to playing at the level it takes to compete at the varsity level.”
With the rest of the county schools also feeling their way though the season with young squads, Gardner said the Eagles would be getting themselves back into a position to not only reclaim the Putnam County Tournament title but postseason hardware as well.
“I believe that by the time the sectional gets here, we will be a team that will play hard and compete hard every night,” Gardner said. “The other teams will be young as well and I believe that all the teams will get better as the years goes on.
“I feel that we will get better across the board and be a very hard-nosed team that will be competitive when they get on the floor.”