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Lady Patriots look to
repeat
Team photo by Danny Stockton, stocktonstudios.com
Tri-Village Girls Basketball...
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- Going undefeated a year ago in the Cross County
Conference, the Tri-Village Lady Patriots will look to duplicate that
feat again in the 2011-12 season.
Coming back with just one senior, that senior may be the only one Pats
coach Brad Grey may need.
Led by 5-11 senior Kayla Linkous, T-V will feature more than just
Linkous and that may be enough to post a danger sign at the entrance of
the ‘Battleground’ and an ‘Enter at your own risk’ sign at the front
door of the school.
“Kayla will leave here as the all-time leading scorer at the end of the
season,” said Grey. “She needs just 120 points to do that. She will
also leave having scored over 2,000 points and getting 1,000 rebounds
and will be only the fourth person in the state to do that. Our offense
will revolve around her but we are not just a one trick pony either.
Kayla will be the first person to tell you that without her teammates,
she‘s nothing.”
Juniors Teha Richards and Shaye Thomas will be a part of the offense
that will prove to be poison for other teams.
“Both of these girls are two year letter winners and have been
starters,” Grey pointed out. “Sophomore Krystal Falknor started for us
last year as a freshman and sophomore Lexie Bruner was the first person
off the bench as a freshman so we are young but we are experienced.
Both these girls can put big points up on the board. Falknor is tall
and left-handed and can shoot the ball. Teha can score 20 night in and
night out so we have the inside-outside game going. We have a target on
our backs and we want that target. That target means success.”
A year ago, the Patriots were 19-1 at the end of the regular season and
24-2 overall.
In those two losses, Grey said it was the defense that let the team
down and that was the big area for improvement.
“When you score 50 and 60 points in a game and lose, that says the
defense wasn’t there,” Grey pointed out. “Defense is where it’s at for
us if we want to be successful. It’s that simple.”
If the Patriots have an Achilles Heal, it comes off the floor, not on
it.
“We can’t believe all the hype that will be said and written about this
team,” Gray stated. “We need to ignore all that and just go out and
play the game the way we know how. There’s a lot of talk about how this
is the team that can get to Columbus. We can’t pay any attention to
that. We have to continue to bust our tails in practice and in the
games. Once you get satisfied with where you’re at, that’s when you
start slipping. We have to stay focused. I think we have a chance to
get there but we can‘t dwell on that.
“A lot of teams have two good players but we have five or six, maybe
even seven,” Gray said of his team. “It’s going to be interesting to
see how other teams defense us. I really don’t thing we will see a lot
of man-to-man. I think we will see a lot of zone defenses or a
box-and-one or triangle-and-two. If that’s the case, that’s fine
because if we have two people guarding Kayla, that means someone is
open.”
Grey will find out quickly on opening night of the Burkett when the
Patriots hook up with Arcanum in the second game of the night, a week
from Friday. The opener will feature Franklin Monroe and Ansonia.
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