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Lady Hawks have
positive outlook on upcoming season
By George Starks
Sports Editor
UNION CITY - Finishing with a 11-13 record overall and 5-7 in the CCC,
the Mississinawa Valley Lady Blackhawks may be a dark horse in the
Cross County Conference this season.
The biggest problem, according to Hawks coach Rodney Saintignon was a
lack of shooting.
“Last year we shot just 38 percent from the field,” said Saintignon.
“We had a lot of close games that we lost last year. If we move that
shooting percentage up, we have five or six more wins. So part of our
plan is to get that goal achieved this season.”
The 2011-12 edition of Lady Hawk basketball will see six seniors and
eight juniors on the varsity roster. Chelsie Saintignon, Mallory
Livingston and Shelby Rehmert are the returning starters from a year
ago. Throw in a couple of sophomores and Saintignon has a positive
outlook.
“The three seniors will be the backbone of the team,” Saintignon said.
“Sophomores Maddie Murphy and Hope Neargarder will fill out the rest of
the starters. They were a big part of our team last year so we have the
experience on the floor.”
Coming off the bench will be 6-1 senior, Haley Cox. Cox will provide
some much needed help in the post position.
“One of the things we’ve been working on in practice is getting the
ball to our post players,” Saintignon admitted. “Because of our outside
shooting last year, a lot of teams would play a zone on us. This year,
we’re looking to open that up by pounding the ball in down low. Haley
is a big kid and can make herself a force on offense and on the boards.
She has the ability to create space and if she does that, we are going
to be a different looking team because she can be a weapon for us down
low. Haley is an excellent rebounder and we are looking for her to step
it up a notch this year.”
While shooting was a problem a year ago, Saintignon pointed out two
other big problem areas.
“We have to protect the ball better,” Saintignon pointed out.
“Turnovers killed us. We were terrible at protecting the ball. We are
running drills in practice with people in our face while we’re passing
the ball. If we can cut our turnovers down by 25 percent it would be
tremendous. We will be looking at Murphy to run the point for us this
year. She is a good ball handler and three point shooter. The other big
problem was foul shooting. We were horrible from the line. I had two
girls from last year returning that shot 70 percent or better from the
line. The rest of the team shot around 50 percent and we can’t live
like that. That has got to improve and we are working on that a lot in
practice.”
Being quick to point out problem areas, Saintignon was just as quick to
point out his team’s strengths also.
“I think we are really strong defensively,” said Saintignon. “We have
some very quick players out there on defense and it was our defense
that won some games for us because it kept us close in games.”
At the other guard will be Rehmert.
“Shelby has a great three point shot coming off a set screen,”
Saintignon stated. “Mallory, Chelsie and Hope will play the forward
positions. All three of them are strong across the line. Junior Liz
Livingston is going to be a huge asset coming in off the bench as well.
She has really improved her game so we are looking for big things from
her.”
With 14 girls dressing varsity, Saintignon will have one thing many
teams don’t have.
“We will have depth on the bench,” said Saintignon. “Our first nine
girls are pretty much equal talent wise. We can keep fresh legs on the
floor most of the time because of that depth and they work together
well. Because of the fresh legs, we can use our speed to wear teams
down and take advantage of that. I think we will be able to press a lot
more this year because of the depth and the speed we will have.”
So where does Saintignon see his team at the end of the season?
“I think Tri-Village and Miami East are the teams to beat,” Saintignon
pointed out. “I think we are a third place team in the conference. We
beat Covington twice last year but came up short against Tri-County
North so I feel we can get teams like North and Twin Valley South this
year. It all depends on how well we shoot..”
In his first year at the varsity helm, Saintignon brought in a new
system and eventually won a sectional title.
The Hawks will look to take it one step further this year.
“We are comfortable with each other and the girls get along well. That
is huge for us. Our freshmen push the seniors and the seniors have
accepted that.
“We are a family,” said Saintignon. “Two years from now, I see this
team at the top of the conference and we should be the team to beat.”
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