Andrea and Brad Brush got started as coaches for the Victory Baptist girls basketball team last season .

This season , they turned to a coaching veteran for more help .

John O ’ Neal , a successful head coach at both Mercer Christian and Greater Beckley Christian , has joined the staff at Victory . He will lend his knowledge to a team that struggled to a 4-16 finish a year ago .

“ It ’ s pleasant ,” said O ’ Neal , who last coached at Greater Beckley in 2011 . “ It ’ s a good experience to get back on the court and to be around kids that have great attitudes , and just pleasant to be around . It ’ s nice .”

O ’ Neal may not have been on the staff last season , but he is still familiar with how things went . It wasn ’ t a memorable season overall , but things were picking up at the end .

“ Coach Brush and the team put in a lot of hard work last year and began improving significantly and had a good finish , a good run at tournament time ,” O ’ Neal said . “ So ( they ) finished strong and kind of a good preparation to come into this season .”

The Saints return three seniors from that team who will be supplemented by a group of young players .

Starting in the post will

be Molly Ward and Evie Dillon .

“ Molly ’ s a hard worker , got good post skills ,” O ’ Neal said . “ We expect a lot out of her this year , to be a leader on the team . Evie is a multi-talented player . She played on the perimeter last year but is moving down and playing in the post for us this year and shown great progress in that regard .”

Emma Brush will be a guard-forward .

“ Emma ’ s a solid sort of swing player , can play on the perimeter and play in the post , ( has a ) nice shot ,” O ’ Neal said .

“ All three of those seniors are great leaders and hard workers , great attitudes . It ’ s good to have kids of that caliber as the leaders on your team .”

Brooke Daniels is back on the team after not playing

last season and will be running the point .

“ Brooke … is just showing great leadership and leading us on the court setting up our offenses and communicating and things like that .”

A pair of freshmen in guards Landri Flohr and Jada O ’ Neal are expected to be in the mix right off the bat .

“( Flohr ) has good skills , plays hard . Definitely going to have to step in as a freshman and contribute right away ,” O ’ Neal said . “ Jada is going to have to get quite a few minutes on the perimeter and has pretty good ball handling and shooting skills . We expect her to play quite a bit .”

Grace Ward and Callie Bethel are also expected to contribute .

“ Grace Ward is real athletic and developing her

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skill set . She will definitely be in the playing mix ,” O ’ Neal said . “ Callie Bethel is a first-year player in the post and learning the post and making good progress .”

There is also the possibility of some eighth-graders getting playing time .

Going with a roster of eight players presents challenges , but O ’ Neal thinks the team is prepared .

“ Obviously the kids have to be in good condition , and hope to avoid injury and illness and foul trouble ,” O ’ Neal said . “ We ’ ve been trying to prepare to have a good rotation , six , seven deep . … The team has great potential to improve by the end of the season as the players figure out their roles . We hope that they ’ ll progress and maybe come together by tournament time .”

WV SOUTH BASKETBALL • ⁴⁷