Deep Grizzlies hope to improve this year
By Gary Fauber the register-herald
The Nicholas County girls finished 9-12 a year ago , but after losing just one senior from that team , there is cause for optimism of an improved season .
Several of the returning players played substantial minutes last season , including as freshmen .
“ We played with a lot of young kids ,” thirdyear head coach Kameron Hornsby said . “ Four juniors got to play , and then we saw a real big spark out of Adrienne Truman . She was a freshman , and Olivia Stone had her big-time moments . She was another freshman as well .”
The only senior to replace is Kelsi Foster in the post .
“ She came through the system all four years ,” Hornsby said . “ Really saw ample amount of minutes her sophomore through senior years . Didn ’ t see a whole lot her freshman year .
“( Losing her ) is a big impact because Kelsi , she not only was a good player but she was a good leader . She was me out on the basketball floor . She did a lot putting kids in the right places , where we did play so young last year . It helped out when I wouldn ’ t get to some
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Jenny Harnish / The Register-Herald
Nicholas County ’ s Mason Stone tries to get past Summers County ’ s Alyvia Harvey during the Perry Memorial Gym Homecoming game Jan . 19 at Hinton High School .
of the younger kids , she kind of stepped in and spoke their language , so to speak . They kind of got it off of her when they didn ’ t get it from me .”
Hornsby , a 2014 Nicholas graduate who helped with the team as a student before joining the staff as an assistant in 2019 , said a deep roster has lent itself to competition for playing time .
“ Minutes this year are going to be up for grabs , so to speak ,” he said . “ This is the first time in a while , that I know of , that we ’ ve had 17 kids on the team . They ’ re pushing each other in practice . It ’ s a fun time at practice because there ’ s not a stacked team when we go 5-on-5 . So a lot of minutes are out there for people to earn .”
Adrienne Truman is certainly one of them , coming off a freshman season in which she scored 253 points . Fellow sophomore Olivia Stone is another .
“ You can tell she has gotten in the gym in the offseason ,” Hornsby said .
“ Her defense has picked up tremendously .”
They will be joined , of course , by the four seniors .
“ We have Lilly Meadows . She hasn ’ t gotten to play yet , but she ’ s working her way into practice . She ’ s coming off a broken leg from soccer ,” Hornsby said . “ She ’ s going to see some minutes .
“ Anastin Hornsby is valuable at times when we need a big shot .
“ Jenna Grose and Mason Stone , both hard workers . Jenna , I like to call her a hybrid player because she can play down low and she can come up top and play guard . Mason Stone ’ s more of an underneath player , one of the best post defenders I have ever seen . She does a heck of a job when her assignment is to guard a post .”
Hornsby said juniors Ruthie Lott and Alexis O ’ Dell are “ both tremendous people and basketball players .”
Having experienced players coming back and several players trying to get on the floor has Hornsby hopeful of a successful season .
“ Yeah , I feel very optimistic ,” he said . “ Eleven or 12 days of practice and they look good . The experience has kicked in with some of the older ones and the ones that got to play a lot of significant minutes last year . So we ’ re very optimistic of what we can do .
“ But like I tell them every day at the end of practice , we ’ re going to take care of one game at a time because business is only going to get handled one day at a time . We can ’ t keep looking forward .”
Email : gfauber @ register-herald . com ; follow on
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