White , Gray to lead way for Red Devils
By Steve Keenan the fayette tribune
In 2021-22 , the Oak Hill girls finished with a 7-11 report card , falling to top-seeded Greenbrier East in the opening round of Class AAAA Region 3 tournament play .
From last year ’ s squad , the Red Devils lost starters Samiah Lynch ( the leading scorer ), Allison Smith and Eden Gilkey via the graduation route . “ We lost quite a bit ,” said head coach Darrell Compton , in his third year guiding the program .
There are numerous options this year , though .
Starters back in the fold are sophomore Taysia Gray and senior Hannah White . Gray and White will trade off at the point guard position and will be expected to provide major contributions toward the Red Devils ’ success . “ We ’ ve really got two point guards out there ,” said Compton .
Gray and White bring “ speed and knowledge ” to the OHHS attack , their coach says . “ Taysia ’ s a sophomore , but she ’ s played basketball all of her life .” As a freshman , Gray helped the departed Lynch guide the Red Devil attack , he said . “ She kind of made everything go .”
“ Hannah is an all-state soccer player , and she ’ s just a speed demon ,” he
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Jenny Harnish / The Register-Herald
Oak Hill ’ s Josephine Keaveny drives to the basket against Greenbrier East Feb . 23 in Fairlea .
said . “ I ’ m really excited about her . The way she grew over the past three years as a basketball player has been amazing .”
“ We ’ ve got some girls that played a lot for us last year ,” Compton continued . “ We ’ ve got ( senior ) Harper Davis . She really worked on her game in the offseason . We ’ ve got ( senior ) Grace Angelona . She ’ ll give us some minutes in January ( after recovering from surgery for a broken hand ).
Bethany Rosiek ( senior ) can shoot the daylights out of the ball ; we ’ ll see how her defense comes along .”
“ We ’ re sophomore- and junior-heavy ,” he said . “ We ’ ve got talent , but we have young talent , so we ’ ll see how that goes .”
Junior Cara Smith “ grew a little bit and we ’ re trying to get her stronger inside .” Of Smith making the transition from guard to being more of a post presence , Compton said ,
“ She ’ ll get there . She ’ s gotten stronger . She really got in the weight room over the summer .”
Sophomore Jordan Harris , who was sidelined by an ACL injury last season , is expected to come back and make big contributions . “ She ’ s strong , man .”
Freshmen matriculating from the middle school will also be counted on for good minutes , Compton said . “ I plan on playing a lot of girls this year .”
Freshman post player Ali Williams and freshmen guards Jada Wilburn and Kasey Compton are among the youngsters expected to be solidly in the mix .
“ Weaknesses , we ’ re young . Strengths , we ’ re young ,” he said . “ I ’ ve kind of fed it to them that they ’ re going to make mistakes , but as long as their hustle outweighs their mistakes , we ’ re going to be OK .
“ They put out a lot of hustle .” Follow on Twitter @ gb _ scribe
Jenny Harnish / The Register-Herald
Oak Hill ’ s Hannah White defends as Greenbrier East ’ s Cadence Stewart drives to the basket Feb . 23 in Fairlea .
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