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2023-24 GIRLS' BASKETBALL PREVIEWS: Greencastle Tiger Cubs
What might have been a decent season in 2022-23 turned into a magical ride for Greencastle, winning a sectional for the first time in a decade and a second-ever girls’ basketball regional title, bridging a 43-year gap.
All that’s changed since then is losing two players who topped the scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and block charts, a third who was third in rebounding and a head coach.
The Tiger Cubs will have to retool almost all facets of their game with the graduation of Gloria Brewer, Emma Hunter and Stephanie Morales, doing so under new head coach Jessica Lenihan, who was promoted after being an assistant under Doug Greenlee the past two seasons.
While there was a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it before the regular season started, Lenihan said things were going smoothly to start the season.
“It’s been good,” Lenihan said. “I’ve enjoyed it a lot, being able to take over and put in the things I think are important in basketball.
“I’ve taken some of the things that Doug did and also throwing in some of my own things. (Monday) was the first full practice with everyone here, so I got to see more than I did during Fall Break. The girls are working hard and everyone is excited.”
Lenihan, a ’15 Greencastle graduate, said her experience on both the court and on the sideline would help in the transition to head coach.
“For sure, it helped me tremendously to work under Doug,” Lenihan said about being an assistant for Greenlee over the past two seasons. “He’s coached for so many years and I learned a lot under him.
“I also learned just by playing under (former Greencastle head coach) Brad Key. I’ve taken some of Doug’s coaching style, some of Brad’s and some of my own. Working under and playing for two great people has helped me a lot with my knowledge of basketball.
“This year, I’m going to be a little harder on them than the past couple of years and it may take a bit for them to know that I’m serious,” Lenihan added. “When it comes to practice, it’s serious and not goofing off time and I’m interested to see how long it takes for them to catch on.”
As for those on the court, Lenihan said there were a lot of responsibilities the squad was going to have to share after a lot of the workload was handled between Brewer and Hunter.
“I don’t think it’s hit them quite yet,” Lenihan noted. “I talked to them at the start of practice about how we lost our two top scorers, around 40 points, and we’re going to miss that.
“It’s going to take one or two games for them to pick it up. With Evelyn (Briones) being our third scorer last year, she’s got to step up a lot. I’m looking for Bailey (Brown) to step up a lot as she’s strong down low, looking to get a couple of buckets from her each night.
“I’m going to lean on some younger ones to pull things up as well,” Lenihan added.
Returning seniors for Greencastle include Briones (9.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg), Madi Plew (3.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and Aleeyah Johnson (1.2 rpg), along with junior Ali Dobbs (2.6 ppg, 3 rpg) and sophomore Brown (1.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg). Other returning players from the JV include junior Becca Rady and sophomores Izzy and Lexi Camera.
Freshmen joining the squad including Emily Hunsinger, Madily Hiatt, Mikinley Cantonwine, Kamrin Holley, Jacey Call, Sarah Simmerman and Ava Williamson.
While scoring would be a concern, given Brewer and Hunter combined for 40 ppg a year ago, Lenihan pointed to the pair’s ball-handling abilities as being equally important, an area the current roster will have to catch up with quickly.
“It starts with confidence, especially with Evelyn and Ali,” Lenihan said. “I’m going to look to those two to bring the ball up a lot and take care of the ball.
“Evelyn has gotten better and this summer helped her a lot to realize this is mainly on me and I have to pick it up. Ali, I want her to be my second go-to but her confidence is low and I’m working on trying to build that up.”
The three graduates also pulled down a combined 18 rebounds a night, another area the team was going to need to make strides in early with Lenihan pointing to Brown as a player who could help bridge the gap.
“Bailey is a player I love all the way around,” Lenihan said. “She works hard and I can trust that she will get a loose ball, a rebound, a putback basket.
“She’s very aggressive down low and I’m super excited to see how she grows the next three years. Madi, in this offense, is someone I’m pulling out, so she’s got to crash. She’s six-foot and I would expect her to grab at least six rebounds a game, but there is going to be a period of struggle this year and I need the girls to buy in to what we’re doing day-by-day.”
With experience beyond the starting five lacking, Lenihan said there were opportunities for players to get some time early in the season in the varsity rotation, looking to Rady and Simmerman early on.
“Becca played for me on JV the past couple of years, though she had a pretty serious knee injury last year and missed most of the season,” Lenihan said. “She’s been to everything since then and can be in that varsity rotation this year.
“One of the younger girls we’re really looking at is Sarah. She works hard, has a knowledge of basketball and is going to have to step up pretty quickly as I’m going to throw her in and hope she can swim as she’ll be in the rotation as well.”
Offensively, Lenihan said the team was going to be more structured on the offensive end in order to facilitate scoring chances for everyone, knowing teams would be keeping closer tabs on Briones from outside this season.
“I’m looking at offenses that let the girls score,” Lenihan said about her offensive style. “We had, I wouldn’t say a set offense last year with Gloria running the show, but we have a couple this year, some continuity offense that we can hopefully get some quick hits from.
“We’re not a great three-point shooting team yet. Evelyn is our best three-point shooter while we’re looking to get some down low looks to Madi, Bailey and Ali.
“A lot will depend on who we play but we want to be able to play man pretty well,” Lenihan added about the defensive side of the ball. “We’re going to have to win games on the defensive end; we have to keep scores low as we don’t know yet how well we’re going to score.”
Opening the season now on Nov. 1 at Southmont, Lenihan said there were a lot of unknowns for the team heading into the game against the Mounties, questions that could only be answered once the ball was in the air, though there was one area Lenihan she wanted to only have one answer.
“The biggest saying for this group is I want them to have heart,” Lenihan said. “I want this team to outwork every other team win or lose; I don’t want to question their hustle and want us to be known for working hard no matter what and giving everything until the end of that game.
“When the buzzer goes off at the end of the fourth quarter, we know we gave it all we have. I don’t want to worry about anyone giving up on things or not hustling every game. Things are going to be different this year.
“I don’t know if the girls know that yet or not but eventually, we’ll have that talk before the first game,” Lenihan added. “It’s going to be tougher than last year and it’ll take a couple of games to settle and see what we’re up against this year.”
Once roles become more defined and a rotation solidifies, Lenihan said the group had potential to make things happen, adding that it might take time but there was a path for growth not just now but in the future as well.
“I think we can grow into a great team,” Lenihan said. “If we’re all on the same page, we can get the scoring figured out and get at least three girls scoring well, we’ll be tough to beat.
“We want to be a team that works hard, pushes the tempo up and down the floor, be active, outwork teams, lock them down and get the win. It might take a few years but that’s my end goal.”