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Lady
Wave post player Erin Albright works the ball against a Troy Christian
player Tuesday. The
Wave center will be a huge part of the Wave success when Greenville
gets its season started
November 23 at Celina in the OVISCO Classic.
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Lady Wave
showing promise after third scrimmage
New coach pleased with progress
By George Starks
GREENVILLE- With three scrimmages in the books and one left to play
before the start of the season, Greenville girls basket coach Kyle
Vanover, had a lot to see Tuesday night as his Lady Wave scrimmaged
Troy Christian.
A year ago, head coach Tom Rettig found himself fighting things that
were out of his control.
Rettig had no true point guard to run the team on offense.
Then senior Jenna Dowler was forced in to the role of running the
point. Dowler was still one of the leading scorers on the team and in
many games, the leading scorer.
At times, Dowler would net 20 or more points a game. A true shooting
guard (Dowler) but not the point guard the Wave so desperately needed.
Dowler did have some help with the scoring in senior Kelsey Testor but
like Dowler, Testor is gone on to better things.
“I’m blessed to have the point guard position taken care of and Tara
(Guillozet) is doing a great job,” said Vanover. “She is my floor
general. She’s out there to make sure we’re in the right offense and
make sure we’re under control at times when it gets sloppy. So right
now, I put a lot of pressure on her to make her mentally tough.”
With just over a week to go before the Wave will open at Celina in the
OVISCO Classic, Vanover saw some of that sloppy play he so wants to get
rid of.
“She (Guillozet) has a lot to learn from not being a point guard last
year,” Vanover admitted. “She is learning quickly and she has come a
long way. One thing I can say about all my kids, not just Tara, is that
I want them to be mentally tough. There are times when you get down
five or six points quickly. I want to know how they will respond. I ask
them, “how are you going to respond to adversity? Are you going to be
the ones that shut down or are you going to be the ones that go out and
give it your all?”
The other thing that plagued the Wave a season ago was an injury to a
key player, Megan Galloway. Now, a healthy Galloway will partner in the
post area with Albright.
A tandem that could cause teams a ton of trouble.
“These two work well together and last year when Galloway was healthy,
that duo wasn’t utilized that way,” Vanover pointed out. “I’m blessed
in that respect because I’ve never had two six footers that have great
hands and great footwork like these two do. Because of the fact they do
work well together, it will pay dividends for the team because they
know each other well on both ends of the floor.”
While Vanover is experiencing the best the game can offer in a good
point and two bigs, he will also be looking at another area that that
he will have to deal with.
The dreaded double team.
“I realize the double team will happen because of my two big girls but
I know I have enough talent on the floor at all times in the five that
will be there, that if a team does double team, that means someone is
open,” Vanover stated. “My kids are all good together. I don’t know how
else to put it.”
With players like Haley Luce returning from last years team and new
comers like Jessica Kerg and Rachel Foreman, Vanover will have no less
than four players to choose from off the bench after is starting five
take the court.
“If there is one thing this team has going for it, is the fact they all
get along well with each other,” Vanover said. “They have fun together,
they hang out with each other and they do things together. The team
unity with this group is really strong and that’s going to help down
the road.”
As a team, Vanover said the goal was to give up less than 40 points a
game.
Against the Eagles, Greenville allowed just 30 points in the opening
four quarters while scoring 46 points on offense.
“I know we played a 10 minute running clock but we are going to take a
lot of pride in our defense this year,” Vanover quipped. “Our defense
is going to fuel our offense. When we play bad defensively, you’re
going to see some sloppiness like we played in the first quarter. Last
year, this team gave up 54-58 points a game and you’re not going to win
games giving up that many points a game. If we stay around 40 a game,
we feel like we’ll be in a lot of games this year.”
When Vanover was at his former school (Graham) he said his team had a
motto.
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Greenville will have one more scrimmage, at Eaton on Saturday.
After that, the hard work will be put into action.
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Greenville
point guard Tara Guillozet brings the ball up the floor against Troy
Christian.
Guillozet gives the Lady Wave an added weapon as Greenville in a true
point guard.
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