Independence Girls
Independence Girls
Dynamic duo lead Patriots into new territory
By Dave Morrison for the register-herald
Even though the season didn ’ t end the way the team had hoped it would , last season ’ s 19-4 record and hosting a sectional tournament game was in many respects magical .
“ It was unreal ,” said coach Mark Cuthbert , a man for all seasons at Independence , who is an assistant coach on the football program that won a state title in 2022 and assistant coach to brother Scott Cuthbert with the baseball program that played for a state title in June .
“ The girls had fun playing basketball . We had played in the play-in game for the last four or five seasons before and I can ’ t remember the last time we hosted a sectional basketball game .”
The Patriots lost to Westside that night , 50-37 .
But it still provided an impetus for the future .
As does the return of one of the area ’ s top one-two combinations in junior Harmony Mills and sophomore Lacey Goodson .
Goodson led the team in scoring last year as a freshman , averaging 18.4 points and 6.6 rebounds .
Mills , a sophomore , averaged 16.6 points and led the team in rebounds at 9.4 rebounds per game .
Both were asked to be main cogs in the program when they entered as freshmen , arriving with as much fanfare as any member of the Lady Patriots program has in the past . And with that came expectations .
“ We put a lot on their plates as freshmen and they had to handle a lot of the scoring load ,” Cuthbert said . “ That ’ s a lot to ask to come in and have those kinds of expectations but they handled it well . And they did what they had to do .”
Mills arrived in 2022-23 with a bang , scoring 20 points in her high school
Tina Laney / For The Register-Herald
Harmony Mills of Independence takes the ball to the basket against Meadow Bridge .
debut against Richwood and followed that with a mammoth 41-point effort against Montcalm . She averaged 17.9 points per game . She now has 757 points in her high school career in 44 games ( 17.2 ppg ).
“ Harmony can score from anywhere on the court and has been our leading rebounder the last two years ,” Cuthbert said . “ And she doesn ’ t fear anyone . She is also like a coach on the floor . We can use her to get information to the other players when they might not understand something .”
Goodson came the following year and was impressive in her debut with 18 points .
“ Lacey had a strong freshman year , and she has a great skill set ,” Cuthbert said . “ She is dedicated to improving her game , and her commitment in the weight room and on the court has helped continue to grow . We expect her to have another solid year and contribute significantly to the team .”
Junior Zoey Bragg and sophomore Jessica Vandall also return .
“ Zoey is one of our scrappiest players and plays with tenacity ,” Cuthbert said . “ We expect her to strengthen our guard play . After an injury in volleyball , we ’ ll ease her back into the lineup .
“ Jessica earned valuable minutes in big games last year . And has been working hard on her game in the offseason .”
Kassidy Bradbury , a senior first-year player and a standout on the school ’ s softball team , is out for basketball for the first time .
“ She is a great athlete , and we are going to use her in a leadership role , even though she hasn ’ t played basketball ,” Cuthbert said . “ She had the hit that sent the softball team to the state tournament two years ago .”
Other newcomers likely to play on the varsity are freshmen Addy Whittaker , Chloe Moore and Kenleigh Davis .
Duplicating the success of last winter will be a little more difficult with the Patriots moving into a new Class AAA Region 3 this season .
In fact , it doesn ’ t much resemble the schedules of the past .
“ We ’ ve improved our schedule to match the move in classification ,” Cuthbert said . “ We play Greenbrier East twice , Princeton twice , we picked up South Charleston , we ’ ve got Oak Hill . We understand that it ’ s going to be a more difficult task . But these girls have worked really hard , and I think they are ready for the challenge .”
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