winter 2011 sports preview

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A winter sports extravaganza brought to you by T T T h h h e e e T T T i i i m m m e e e s s s - - - G G G a a a z z z e e e t t t t t t e e e S S S t t t a a a n n n d d d u u u p p p a a a n n n d d d c c c h h h e e e e e e r r r Read all about it: Basketball previews of varsity boys and girls basketball teams from Hillsboro, McClain, Fairfield, Lynchburg-Clay and Whiteoak high schools, plus HHS and MHS wrestling and Tiger Shark previews

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A supplement to The Times-Gazette, Hillsboro, Ohio.

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Page 1: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

A winter sports extravaganza brought to you by

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SSSSttttaaaannnndddd uuuupppp aaaannnndddd cccchhhheeeeeeeerrrr

Read all about it: Basketball previews of varsity boys and girls basketball teams from Hillsboro, McClain, Fairfield, Lynchburg-Clay and Whiteoak high schools, plus HHS and MHS wrestling and Tiger Shark previews

Page 2: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

By JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

The Hillsboro Indians are look-ing to defend their South CentralOhio League title with a new coachand a host of new players.“Our goal every season is

going to be to win theleague,” Hillsboro coachBrett Prince said. “Afterthat, we want to go asdeep as we can into thetournament.”Prince returns to a head

coaching position after twoyears as an assistant at NewarkCatholic High School. Prior to histime at NCHS, he was the headcoach at Millersport High Schoolfor three years.He now takes over in Hillsboro,

which went 14-8 last year.

Returning from last year’s castare Tyrand Cumberland and ChaseGilliland, who both were in thestarting lineup throughout the sea-son, and Devante Ames and JarrodHart –– both of which started and

came off of the bench last sea-son.“Chase and Tyrand arecoming back as starters,”Prince said. “They’ve gotto lead us on the court.They have been through thebattle.“… Hart played a lot last

year and we are looking for himto be a leader out there. He is goingto handle the ball a lot and we needhim to be solid.”The Indians will also be looking

for their new members to step in andmake contributions.“We are looking for big things

from Ta’ [Captain],” Prince said.“He played a lot of jayvee last year.He is definitely a guy that can putthe ball in the hole.“… [Christian] Cundiff might

surprise some people this season. Heis a lot bigger and stronger than hewas a year ago.”Prince’s primary concern is his

team’s defense.“We have to get better on

defense,” he said. “Most of mycoaching has to be done on thedefensive end. With us, it is going tobe all about defense and rebounding.We have some guys that are going toscore, but if we are going to defendour title, we are going to have torebound and get better on defense.”Standing in the way of the

Indians is an evenly-matched SCOLlineup.“[Washington] should be strong.

Clinton-Massie should be strong. Iknow Madison-Plains is going to besolid this year,” Prince said.“Nobody is going to be weak.”The Indians will open the season

at home for five of their first sixhome games beginning withWestern Brown on Friday, Dec. 2.

Page 2A Times-Gazette Thursday, November 24, 2011

TIPOFF 2011

Page 1: Cover

Page 2: Hillsboro Boys

Basketball

Page 3: McClain Boys,

Girls Basketball

Page 4:Whiteoak Boys

Basketball

Page 5: Fairfield Boys,

Girls Basketball

Page 6: Lynchburg-Clay

Boys, Girls Basketball

Page 7: Hillsboro,

Whiteoak Girls Basketball

Page 8: McClain, Hillsboro

Wrestling

Page 9: McClain

Swimming

TTaabbllee ooffTTaabbllee ooffCCoonntteennttssCCoonntteennttss

Josh Walker/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 HILLSBORO INDIANS BASKETBALL TEAM –– Tyia Cumberland, Christian Cundiff, Jordan Captain, Chase Gilliland, Taron Captain, TyrandCumberland, Trevor Gleadle, Jarrod Hart, DeVante Ames and Reese Leibreich.

Indians look to repeat with new coachHILLSBORO INDIANS BASKETBALL

Date Opponent

12/02/2011 Western Brown

12/03/2011 ZT Shootout

12/06/2011 Fairfield

12/09/2011 McClain

12/13/2011 Eastern Brown

12/16/2011 Washington

12/20/2011 @London

1/03/2012 Madison Plains

1/06/2012 @Miami Trace

1/17/2012 @C-Massie

1/20/2012 @McClain

1/24/2012 @Washington

1/27/2012 London

1/31/2012 Miami Trace

2/03/2012 @M-Plains

2/07/2012 @Lynchburg

2/14/2012 Goshen

2/17/2012 Clinton-Massie

HILLSBORO INDIANS

SCHEDULE

TYRAND CUMBERLAND

Page 3: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

Thursday, November 24, 2011 Times-Gazette Page 3A

TIPOFF 2011

MCCLAIN TIGERS BASKETBALL

Tigers will be young and inexperiencedBy JIM JONESThe Times-Gazette

The McClain basketballteam will be led into the2011-12 campaign by BrentEaton, who begins his thirdseason as the Tigers' coach.

McClain finished lastseason with a 9-12 overallmark (4-8 in the SouthCentral Ohio League), butdespite the losing record,most coaches will tell youthat the Tigers were ascompetitive and playedas hard as anyteam they facedall season.

“My main con-cern is our youth,”Eaton said. “We lost nineseniors two years ago andeight last season. That’s 17kids in two years.

“Last year, we were veryyoung in terms of experi-ence, but they were olderkids. This year, it’s just theopposite. We’re inexperi-enced and young.”

Trey Lytle and Roger

Carroll are the only seniorson this year’s team andboth played on the jayveesquad last year.

Thomas Schrader andJeremiah Savage –– bothsophomores –– are the onlytwo returning players withany varsity experience fromlast season.

“We’ve got three sopho-mores and a freshman thatare practicing with us fulltime and all four have agood chance to play,” Eatonsaid. “We have just two

seniors and both ofthem played on thejayvee team lastyear, as did all of our

juniors. So, outside ofThomas and Jeremiah, wedon’t have anyone return-ing with varsity experi-ence.”

Evan Mustard, anothertalented sophomore, did seelimited varsity playing timetoward the end of last sea-son.

Jim Jones/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 McCLAIN TIGERS BASKETBALL TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Trevor Gossett, Roger Carroll, John Turner, Brent Shannon,Isaac Savage; (back row) Nick Penwell (manager), Ryan Faulconer, Thomas Shrader, Tyler McGuire, Jeremiah Savage, PhilipThompson, Evan Mustard, Trey Lytle and Matt Miller (manager).

MCCLAIN LADY TIGERS BASKETBALL

MHS look to contend for title

Jim Jones/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 McCLAIN LADY TIGERS BASKETBALL TEAM –– (l-r) Dennis Overstake, Kaitlyn Faulconer, Sammy Rooks, TaylorFaulconer, Kate Crabtree, Jenna Perie, Tara Karnes, Brittany Mullikin, Shania Massie, Katy Unger and Caitlyn Lovett.

Date Opponent12/03/2011 Hillsboro12/05/2011 Lynchburg-Clay12/07/2011 @Clinton-Massie12/10/2011 @Eastern12/14/2011 @Washington12/17/2011 London12/21/2011 @Whiteoak1/05/2012 Unioto1/07/2012 Madison-Plains1/12/2012 @Miami Trace1/18/2012 @Hillsboro1/21/2012 Clinton-Massie1/25/2012 @Jackson1/28/2012 Washington1/31/2012 @Zane Trace2/01/2012 @London2/04/2012 @Madison-Plains2/06/2012 Eastern2/11/2012 Miami Trace

MCCLAIN LADY TIGERS SCHEDULE

Date Opponent12/02/2011 Jackson12/03/2011 Westfall12/09/2011 @Hillsboro12/16/2011 Clinton-Massie12/27/2011 @Fairfield12/29/2011 Adena1/03/2012 Washington1/06/2012 @London1/07/2012 @Zane Trace1/13/2012 @Madison-Plains1/14/2012 Unioto1/17/2012 Miami Trace1/20/2012 Hillsboro1/24/2012 @Clinton-Massie1/31/2012 London2/03/2012 @Washington2/10/2012 Madison-Plains2/17/2012 @Miami Trace2/18/2012 @Southeastern

MCCLAIN TIGERS SCHEDULE

By JIM JONESThe Times-Gazette

Veteran basketball coachDennis Overstake begins his31st season as the LadyTigers’ mentor and bringswith him an impressive 475-192 record.

Last year, the McClaingirls concluded the seasonwith a 15-6 overall recordand a second-place finish inthe South Central OhioLeague behind championMiami Trace.

Lost to graduation were

three backcourt specialists ––Chrissy Cobb, Frankie Wiseand Megan Hogle. Cobb,who was a first team All-SCOL performer, averaged13 points a game last yearwhile dishing out four assistsper game. Wise and Hoglewere responsible for anothereight points per game com-bined and both were verygood defensively.

Six seniors –– JennaPerie, Kate Crabtree, BrittanyMullikin, Sammy Rooks,Kaitlyn Faulconer and TaylorFaulconer –– all return with

lots of varsity experience.“One of our biggest

strengths is having six seniorsback and almost all of themhad lots of playing at the var-sity level last year,”Overstake said. “Strengthsfor this year’s squad would betheir experience as a wholeand the fact that this group ofgirls has played together formany years and are veryclose.

“Another big plus forthem would be that we haveseveral girls who can playmultiple positions. They all

have strong work habits withthe willingness to help eachother out.”

The only weakness on thisteam would possibly be itsoverall team size and the factthat only 15 girls make up theentire varsity and reservesquads.

“Our main concern enter-ing the season is our lownumbers,” Overstake said.“We didn’t have any juniorscome back out this year forone reason or another.

See TIGERS II 8B

See LADY TIGERS II 9B

Page 4: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

Page 4A Times-Gazette Thursday, November 24, 2011

TIPOFF 2011

WHITEOAK WILDCATS BASKETBALL

Whiteoak blends youth with returning cast

By JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

The Whiteoak Wildcatsand coach Tom Wessnerwill be looking to fill theproduction of graduates JoeMichael and MikeyCarraher with a group thatincludes three returningstarter –– Wes Stratton,Gage Carraher and DocSeip –– and a host ofu p - a n d - c o m i n g‘Cats that arelooking tomake theirmark.“We lost

four seniors last year thatwere very good ondefense,” Wessner said.“We are going to have tofocus on our defense andget it where it needs to be.“… As a team, we are

quicker and should be ableto get good shots. We areprobably going to try to runit a little bit more, but Ialways say that and thenhave to change things up.”

Last year’s groupfinished just below

.500 at 11-12.Along with

t h e

three returning starters isLuke Taggert, who was aspark off of the bench lastyear. Zach Docter will jointhe returning letterman inthe starting lineup in hisjunior season.“[Doc Seip] and Gage

both started the majority ofthe games as sophomoreslast year,” Wessner said. “Ilook for their production togo up and help replacesome of [Joe Michael andMikey Carraher’s] offen-sive numbers.“… Wes returns and we

are looking to him for somesenior leadership. It

shouldn’t be hard for himto control things from thepoint. He knows ouroffense and knows what wewant to do.”Whiteoak will also be

hoping for support off of itsbench.“Justin Butler and Blake

Trueblood had really goodsummers,” Wessner said.“They hit the weight roomand have benefitted a lotfrom our summer camps.“Steven Meyers and

Tyler Williams are sopho-mores and should see sometime too. They saw some ofthe sophomores getting

playing time last year andthat has really motivatedthem. They are workinghard and trying to get intothe mix.”However, it is the strong

returning cast that will needto set the example on thecourt if the Wildcats are toimprove on last season’seffort, which ended in theDivision IV Southeast

District Finals with a lossto Manchester.“You always want to see

everyone playing hard,”Wessner said. “We have puta few new things in and Iam hoping to see that stuffhas been received [to openthe season]. With threereturning starters and Luke,we are definitely not start-ing from scratch.”

Josh Walker/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 WHITEOAK WILDCATS BASKETBALL TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Joe Isaac, Justin Emery, Doc Seip, Luke Taggert, Justin Butler, Steven Meyers, Leonard Becraft, Jesse Bradds; (backrow) Wesley Stratton, Gage Carraher, Nick Wardlow, Zach Docter, Tyler Williams, Blake Trueblood, Graham Douglas and coach TomWessner.

Date Opponent

11/26/2011 @Clermont Northeastern

12/02/2011 North Adams

12/06/2011 @Oak Hill

12/09/2011 @West Union

12/16/2011 Lynchburg-Clay

12/20/2011 Fairfield

12/23/2011 @Hillsboro

12/29/2011 @Clermont Northeastern

12/30/2011 @Lynchburg-Clay

1/03/2012 Manchester

1/06/2012 @Eastern Brown

1/10/2012 @Portsmouth

1/13/2012 Ripley

1/20/2012 @Fairfield

1/24/2012 @Fayetteville

1/27/2012 Peebles

1/31/2012 @Ripley

2/03/2012 @Manchester

2/10/2012 @North Adams

2/14/2012 @Felicity

2/17/2012 Fayetteville

WHITEOAK WILDCATS SCHEDULE

DOC SEIP

Page 5: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

Thursday, November 24, 2011 Times-Gazette Page 5A

TIPOFF 2011

FAIRFIELD LIONS BASKETBALL

Fairfield looks to replace lost offenseBy JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

The Fairfield Lions arelooking to replace 86 percentof their offense from a teamthat finished 11-12 a yearago.

Gone from last year’sgroup are Cameron Rolark,Cody Ferrell, Cody Tolle,Ryan Evans, Ian Adams,Brandon Carmean and ChrisCox, who earned first teamAll-Southeast District andwas honorable mention All-Ohio.

After beginning the sea-son 0-6, the team closed outthe season 11-6 to finish inthe middle of the SouthernHills League.

The Lions’ lone returningstarter is Quentin Williams.Also returning are ColePutnam and Blake Hildebrant–– who came off the benchlast year. The two werelooked to for defense andrebounding last season, butwill be looked to for morescoring this year, accordingto coach Matt Carson.

“I am looking for all threeof them to possess good lead-ership qualities, leading by

example and vocally,”Carson said.

However, if the Lions areto succeed, they will need acomplete team effort.

“I’m looking for every-body to contribute,” Carsonsaid. “We don’t have a lot ofsuperstars, but we have a lotof people that can step in andplay defense. Offensively, weare just going to look to who-ever has the hot hand thatnight.

“… We’ll push the ballwhen it is there, but our focusis going to be on our defenseand rebounding. We aregoing to try to be very effi-cient. Manage possessions.We need to get the most pro-duction we can out of everypossession.”

Despite returning fewplayers from last year’ssquad, Carson is alreadypleased with his team’schemistry.

“The kids have reallycame together,” he said. “Wehad a good summer.

“The kids are not justplaying for themselves or forthe name on the front of thejersey. They are playing forPeanut [Stephen Barcus],

who died last year. He wasnot just a great teammate, buthe was an amazing personand an amazing friend. We

want to work hard and honorhis memory this season.”

That hard work is some-thing that Carson hopes to

see reflected on the courtearly in the season.

“I hope to see a team thatplays as one,” he said. “I

want to look out on the courtand see a team that playsharder and smarter than theiropponent on a nightly basis.”

submitted photo

THE 2011-12 FAIRFIELD LIONS BASKETBALL TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Cody Bennett, Blake Hildebrant, Cole Putnam,Austin Hildebrant,Quentin Williams, Elijah Carmean; (back row) Moritz Hayler, Austin May,Wes Willey, Ryan Bates, Brad Clay and Gage Montgomery.

FAIRFIELD LADY LIONS BASKETBALL

Lady Lions enter season with host of underclassmen

Josh Walker

The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12FAIRFIELD LADYLIONS BASKET-BALL TEAM ––(front row, l-r)Kaitlin Evans,CourtneyHodson, HaleyBobb; (back row)Cynnamon Sova-Davy, ShelbySmithson,Heather Cox,Lydia Sowdersand JusticeHattan.

By JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

The Fairfield Lady Lionsreturn zero starters from lastyear’s group that went 2-20.They have zero seniors. Theyhave zero juniors.

“With a young team, expe-rience is the downfall, obvi-ously,” Fairfield coach MattHodson said. “The benefitwould be that they don’t knowany better.

“All they know is to comeout here and play hard. Theydon’t know that Fayettevilleand Eastern are the class of the[Southern Hills League]. Theyjust know to come out hereand play hard. If we do that,we will be okay.”

Fairfield’s only playersreturning with experience areShelby Smithson and HeatherCox.

They are joined byCynnamon Sova-Davy andCourtney Hodson, who haveall stepped into leadershiproles, according to Hodson.

“My hope is that we con-tinue to improve each andevery week,” Hodson said. “Iwant to be competitive in ourdivision and, by tournament

time, I expect us to be playingreally well.”

As with any young team,the Lady Lions can expect totake some lumps early in theseason.

“I just want them to comeout and not be anxious anduptight,” Hodson said. “Mostof them have not even playedjayvee. I hope they don’t comeout and get their confidenceknocked around too much.

“… The freshmen are agood group… but they’refreshmen.”

In order to achieve theirgoals, the Lady Lions willhope to get the ball into thepost to the combination ofCox and Smithson.

“Our guard play is going tobe huge for us to be a goodteam,” Hodson said. “KaitlinEvans will be running thepoint as a freshman and wewill need her to handle thepress. We have not handledthe press very well in the pastand that means that teams aregoing to do it again. We haveto have good play and be ableto handle that.

“Smithson and Cox aregood in the post. We just needto get it to them.”

Date OpponentBOYS12/02/2011 East Clinton12/03/2011 Southeastern12/06/2011 @Hillsboro12/09/2011 Eastern12/13/2011 @Fayetteville12/16/2011 @Ripley12/20/2011 @Whiteoak12/23/2011 @Washington12/27/2011 McClain1/06/2012 North Adams1/07/2012 @Manchester1/13/2012 Peebles1/20/2012 Whiteoak1/24/2012 Ripley1/27/2012 Fayetteville2/03/2012 @Lynchburg-Clay2/04/2012 @Adena2/07/2012 @Miami Trace2/10/2012 Manchester2/17/2012 @West Union

––––––––––GIRLS11/28/2011 East Clinton12/01/2011 @Fayetteville12/05/2011 @Ripley12/08/2011 @North Adams12/10/2011 Adena12/12/2011 @Manchester12/15/2011 West Union12/22/2011 Lynchburg-Clay12/28/2011 @Hillsboro1/05/2012 Fayetteville1/07/2012 @Lucasville1/09/2012 Whiteoak1/12/2012 @Eastern1/19/2012 @Peebles1/26/2012 Ripley1/30/2012 Blanchester1/31/2012 Southeastern2/02/2012 @Whiteoak2/06/2012 @Paint Valley2/09/2012 Manchester

FAIRFIELD SCHEDULES

Page 6: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

By JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

Whitney Lewis willmake the leap from jayveecoach to varsity, becomingthe third coach forLynchburg-Clay in as manyseasons.

She inherits a team thatwent 15-8 a season ago.The Lady Mustangs returntwo starters in the post ––Laney Lewis and BrookeHertlein –– but must fill inall three guard positionsthis season.

“This is a good group of

kids,” Whitney Lewis said.“I am really lucky to havesuch a great group of girlsin my first year. They wantto be here and they want todo well. … I can’t commentenough on the type ofkids we have in this pro-gram. They all workhard in practice andwant to be here,which is impor-tant.”

Lynchburg willalso be looking toKaren Hilt, whowith Hertlein are the onlyseniors on the team. Hilt

was the team’s sixth man ayear ago and will fill in atthe point.

“We have two seniorsthat have been playing fouryears,” Whitney Lewis said.“They are the type of girls

that … I fully trustboth of them. Theyplayed soccertogether and wereboth leaders on thatteam, which did real-ly well. Hopefully,they can carry thatover onto the bas-

ketball court.“… They are good role

models and all of the fresh-men look up to them. Theyare good to have on theteam.”

Also pencilled in to seesignificant time are juniors

Ashley Tenas and EmmaSetty; however, WhitneyLewis insists, “Nothing isin cement.”

“We are going to gowith whoever is playing thebest at the time,” she said.

As the season approach-es, Whitney Lewis is“excited” to begin the sea-son.

“It’s fun,” she said ofcoaching at the varsitylevel. “It’s challenging andthere is a lot to it. I’m justlooking forward to what theseason is going to be like.

“The hardest thing ismaking sure that I’m cover-ing everything. We areapproaching our first gameand I’m just trying to makesure the ladies are preparedfor each and every game.”

By JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

Lynchburg-Clay coach JasonMcLaughlin is hoping to get hisyoung players acclimated to thevarsity level with only two play-ers returning with any varsityexperience.

“I’m just hoping to get goodexperience for the kids thathaven’t played varsity,”McLaughlin said. “We have somesophomores that are very good inGage Waits and Ryan Inman andsome solid juniors. … We justwant to build for the future bygetting these guys out there.”

The Mustangs’ only returningplayers are Tyler Davidson –– afour-year letterman –– and WesPierson, who came off of thebench last year. They finishedsecond in the Southern HillsLeague and had an overall recordof 8-14.

“Tyler Davidson will run theoffense for us at the point guardposition,” McLaughlin said. “Heis playing varsity for the fourthyear and has three of our fourtotal years of experience on varsi-ty. We are going to look to him toplay a lot of minutes. … He’sgoing to be the key to getting ouroffense going.”

Lynchburg will also need jun-iors Alec Smith and Tyler Allen

to step up.“Alec Smith is 6-3 and has

improved a heck of a lot,”McLaughlin said. “He has had agood summer for us. … TylerAllen really worked on his out-side shooting this summer andshould give us some good min-utes off of the bench.”

Size will be an advantage forthe Mustangs with Smith andInman (6-4) controlling the post.

“Ryan Inman could be one ofour top players,” McLaughlinsaid. “He is dunking now and hasa lot more confidence. He couldbe one of the better players in theleague.

“… We hope to have the sizeadvantage for the next couple ofyears.”

With a young group,Lynchburg’s success this seasonwill depend on its ability to cometogether as a team, according toMcLaughlin.

“I just want to see how theyoung players fit into the roles weneed them to play,” he said. “Thesummer has been a learningexperience for them and for me.They have never played togetherand are still learning how to fit inas a team.

“We can compete with anyteam in the league, it is just aboutgetting kids into their differentroles.”

Page 6A Times-Gazette Thursday, November 24, 2011

TIPOFF 2011

LYNCHBURG-CLAY MUSTANGS BASKETBALL

Lynchburg-Clay looks to gain experience

THE 2011-12 LYNCHBURG-CLAY MUSTANGS –– (front row, l-r) Jake Skaggs, GageWaits, Tyler Davidson, Austin Gorman;(back row) Wes Pierson, Matt West, Ryan Inman, Alec Smith and Jesse VanVleet.

LYNCHBURG-CLAY LADY MUSTANGS BASKETBALL

L-C looks to fill guard positions

Josh Walker/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 LYNCHBURG-CLAY LADY MUSTANGS BASKETBALL TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Morgan Fittro, Karen Hilt, SamWhitenack, Ginny Gadzinski, Madysyn Creighton; (back row) Emma Setty, Brooke Hertlein, Laney Lewis and Ashley Tenas.

Date Opponent11/29/2011 Huntington12/01/2011 @North Adams12/05/2011 @McClain12/08/2011 Fayetteville12/12/2011 @West Union12/15/2011 @Eastern12/19/2011 Peebles12/21/2011 SHL-SCOL Shootout12/22/2011 @Fairfield12/28/2011 @Paint Valley1/05/2012 @Manchester1/12/2012 @Ripley1/17/2012 @Blanchester1/19/2012 North Adams1/23/2012 Georgetown1/26/2012 Whiteoak1/30/2012 Eastern2/02/2012 @Peebles2/06/2012 @Washington2/09/2012 West Union

LYNCHBURG-CLAY GIRLS SCHEDULE

Date Opponent12/02/2011 Miami Trace12/06/2011 @Blanchester12/09/2011 Ripley12/16/2011 @Whiteoak12/20/2011 Peebles12/23/2011 SCOL-SHL Shootout12/29/2011 Wilkin Scholarship Tournament12/30/2011 Wilkin Scholarship Tournament1/06/2012 @Fayetteville1/10/2012 West Union1/13/2012 @North Adams1/14/2012 @Huntington1/20/2012 @Peebles1/24/2012 @Eastern1/27/2012 @Manchester1/31/2012 North Adams2/03/2012 Fairfield2/07/2012 Hillsboro2/10/2012 @West Union2/17/2012 Eastern

LYNCHBURG-CLAY BOYS SCHEDULE

BROOKE HERTLEIN

Page 7: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

Thursday, November 24, 2011 Times-Gazette Page 7A

TIPOFF 2011

HILLSBORO LADY INDIANS BASKETBALL

Lady Indians hope to continue progressionBy JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

The Hillsboro LadyIndians improved theirrecord by three wins in theirfirst year under coach JRMoberly last season. Thatstill only led to a 4-17record.

However, the LadyIndians did show markedimprovement in the secondhalf of the season, defeatingWhiteoak, Fairfield, EastClinton and London in thelatter half after starting theseason 0-7 prior to theChristmas break.

In order to help his teamcontinue its progression,Moberly is focusing ondefense and effort.

“I want to see them playhard. I want to see them exe-cute on defense,” he said.“We are young, so weexpect to make some baddecisions until we can growinto our offense, but the twothings you can control arehow well you play defenseand how hard you work.”

The Lady Indians returnfour players from last year’sgroup, including startersWhitney Earley and CareyJuillerat. Also coming backfrom last year’s group areDanielle Gillman and TaylorMoberly, who were the firsttwo players off of the bench

–– Gillman in the post andMoberly at guard.

“We have a lot of fresh-men and sophomores to goalong with our four return-ing players,“ JR Moberlysaid. “I hope they can pickthe things we are teachingthem up and challenge someteams. If the girls continue

to work at those things, weare going to see some posi-tives in the wins, but it isgoing to take time andpatience.”

In order to achieve theirgoals, the Lady Indians willbe looking to seniorsJuillerat, Earley andGillman to be the team’s

glue.“We are going to count

on our seniors,” JR Moberlysaid. “They need to lead inpractice by example. Theyneed to overcome some ofthe frustration they aregoing to experience as wego.”

Hillsboro will also

expect to see progressionfrom Taylor Moberly, whowill see an increased role onthis year’s team.

“Taylor is a junior thatplayed a lot last year,” JRMoberly said. “We want tosee more out of her this year.She is going to be runningthe point, as well as some

off guard, and we are goingto rely on her ball-handlingto help us.

“… Also, we have a lotof young players that we aregoing to rely on for theirathleticism. We are youngerthis season, but we are alsomuch more athletic than wehave been. We want to use

Josh Walker/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 HILLSBORO LADY INDIANS BASKETBALL TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Maddie Colliver, Trista Rhodes, Taylor Moberly, Whitney Earley, TaylorStanforth,Whitlee Price; (back row) JR Moberly, Brian Hopkins, Hannah Kibler, Alex Stratton, Danielle Gillman, Carey Juillerat, Kaylynn Bell, Britney Bowenand Gary Breeden.

WHITEOAK LADY WILDCATS BASKETBALL

Gilliland, Bohl to lead Lady ‘Cats

Josh Walker/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 WHITEOAK LADY WILDCATS BASKETBALL TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Morgan Campbell, Emily Stratton, CourtneyCummings, Sunnie Lehr, Makayla Wescott; (back row) Amber Gorman, Misty McClure, Jessie Gilliland, Marissa Bohl, Jayde Parrand coach Mike Cooper. Not pictured: Clarrisa Johnson, Savannah Johnson and Brittany Luman.

By JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

The Whiteoak LadyWildcats will build aroundseniors Jessie Gilliland andMarissa Bohl, who are theonly two returners from ateam that went 1-20 a season

ago.“I hope we continue to

get better and improve,”Whiteoak coach MikeCooper said. “Thisgroup is working hardin practice, eventhough the numbersaren’t great. If they con-

tinue to do that we will bebetter at the end of the sea-son when it is time for the

tournament.“The kids are

focused, they are lis-tening and they are veryyoung. I just hope tocontinue to get better

and improve the way wehave so far.”

One key for the Lady‘Cats this season will beclosing out games, whichthey failed to do a seasonago, according to Cooper.

Date Opponent

11/29/2011 @Blanchester

12/03/2011 @McClain

12/07/2011 @Washington

12/10/2011 London

12/14/2011 @Madison Plains

12/17/2011 Miami Trace

12/19/2011 Western Brown

12/28/2011 Fairfield

1/04/2012 Fayetteville-Perry

1/07/2012 @Whiteoak

1/14/2012 Clinton-Massie

1/18/2012 McClain

1/21/2012 Washington

1/25/2012 @London

1/28/2012 Madison Plains

2/01/2012 @Miami Trace

2/04/2012 @East Clinton

2/07/2012 @Goshen

2/11/2012 @Clinton-Massie

HILLSBORO LADY INDIANS SCHEDULE

See LADY WILDCATS II 8B

Page 8: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

By JIM JONESThe Times-Gazette

The McClain wrestling pro-gram will again be headed byShane Paul, who enters his sec-ond season as varsity coach.

Last year the Tigers finishedthe season with 12 victories,which was the most for a varsi-ty wrestling team at McClain inseveral years.

“I was really happy withhow my first season as headcoach here at McClain went,”Paul said. “We had 12 varsityteam meet victories last yearand that was far and away bet-ter than the two or three theyhad in previous seasons.

“We also had two wrestlers–– Steven Barber and JoeUnger –– win over 30 matcheseach last year and Joe is one ofthe returning lettermen, whileSteven graduated and is attend-ing college.”

The Tigers will be led bytheir two senior captains ––Gary Ryan and Unger. Ryanalso had an impressive seasonlast year for McClain with 29victories, which was third-beston the squad.

Other top returning letter-men are juniors Coty Barnhartand Cody Black. Barnhart hadan overall record of 19-10 lastseason and Black was victori-ous in 10 matches. Anotherjunior, Brandon Davis, alsoreturns and will be counted onheavily to pick up some wins inthe upper weight classes.

Brandon Goble, a freshmannewcomer, is also expected tobe a bright spot on this year’steam after wrestling nationallylast year.

“I think Brandon (Goble)can really make an impact thisseason and I expect him to wina lot of matches,” Paul said.

Inexperience is the mainconcern that Paul has headinginto the 2011-12 campaign,although numbers are up a littlefrom last year, which is encour-

aging.“This year, we have some-

where around 20 kids out andthat’s a pretty good number thatshould allow us to fill all of theweight classes except maybefor one or two,” he said. “Lastyear, we had to forfeit abouteight weight classes in everymatch, which made it dif-ficult to get teamwins.

“We still havea lot of inexperi-ence entering theseason even with ournumbers being better,but these kids want to come topractice and work hard everynight to get better. Until youhave that, it’s very difficult toimprove.”

The main team goal for theTigers is to improve on theiroverall record and get a fewmore wrestlers to the districttournament.

“As a team, I would like tosee us improve on our overallrecord,” Paul said. “Last year,we had 12 victories, so I wantto see us bump that up a littlebit this season.”

Paul started a youthwrestling program in

Greenfield last year and knowsit will take awhile to see theresults, but thinks it will hap-pen sooner than later.

“I started a youth programlast year and I know we won’tbecome a wrestling power-house overnight, but I thinkeventually it will come,” hesaid. “One thing that I have

learned as a coach overthe years is that if youwant to get better,don’t expect toomuch all at once but

build with small improve-ments and that’s how I

look at things.“I want to see small

improvements every second ofevery practice and that’s howyou get better. Getting better isnot a sprint, but more like amarathon.

“We need to progress at thebeginning of the season andbuild up momentum at the endheading into the league and dis-trict tournaments.”

The South Central OhioLeague is considered one of thebest in this part of the state andthis year should be no excep-tion.

Miami Trace, the defending

league champion, will onceagain be favored to repeat, butseveral teams return lots ofexperience and talent andshould contend.

“Every team is pretty solidfrom top to bottom and we’recloser to the bottom, eventhough we beat a lot ofDivision I teams in our non-league schedule last year,” Paulsaid. “Miami Trace will be theteam to beat and I thinkWashington Court Houseshould be a close second.Hillsboro and Clinton-Massieare also very good and havelots of returning talent.”

The Tigers, despite hostinglast year’s league meet, don’thave any home matches sched-uled to begin the season, butthey hope to add one or twolater in the season.

“Our administration here atMcClain is behind us and itwould be great to see the com-munity come out and supportwrestling like they have overthe years in other sports,” Paulsaid. “We know that the moresuccess you have, the morepeople want to come out and bea part of it, so that’s exactlywhat we hope to accomplish.”

Thursday, November 24, 2011 Times-Gazette Page 8A

TIPOFF 2011

HILLSBORO INDIANS WRESTLING

Horne: We should be hungry and ready to goBy JOSH WALKERThe Times-Gazette

Hillsboro wrestling coachNathan Horne believes hehas one of the most talentedteam’s in his eight-yeartenure as head coach of theIndians this season.

“I’m excited about thisyear,” he said. “I think wehave a good chance to dosome things. We have a teamthat is up there as far as theteams I’ve coached. We hadsome good teams a few yearsago … but this is one of themost talented teams I’vehad.”

The Indians return astrong core that performedwell last year.

Both Brandon Carter andKordell Ford had their sea-son end a match short ofqualifying for the statewrestling tournament andKaleb West was a sectionalchampion.

“We should be hungryand ready to go,” Horne said.“Caleb is there; so areKordell and Carter. They are

all on the bubble. EvenStephen Limbacher andConner Johnston are rightthere. They are all reallyclose to doing somethingspecial.”

Horne sees his team’sexperience as one of itsbiggest assets.

“We’ve got more experi-ence than we have in the pastfew years,” Horne said. “…This year, we have a goodeven mix throughout theweight classes.”

As a team, Hillsboro hasfilled out its lineup this sea-son after having to forfeitsome weight classes lastyear. With its holes filled,Horne sees his team as hav-ing a chance to dethronedefending South CentralOhio League championMiami Trace.

“I think we’ll be compet-itive with everyone in theleague,” he said. “I expectbig things from West,Kordell and even Limbacher.It is pretty even throughoutthe league.

“… Our goal is to win the

league and have a shot at asectional championship andto be competitive in the dis-trict tournament. And wewant to send as many kids aspossible on to the next level.I think we have four or five

kids that can get out to thestate tournament.”

Despite believing that theIndians will be at the top ofthe SCOL, Horne stated thatthere will be tough competi-tion throughout the league.

“Trace is still the team tobeat even though I think wewill be right there withthem,“ he said. “CourtHouse will be good again.They have some good upperweight class wrestlers and a

state champion returning. Ithink they will all rallyaround him and be a toughteam. London also has somegood returners.

“There will be some goodcompetition this season.”

Josh Walker/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 HILLSBORO INDIANS WRESTLING TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Ryan Kelley, Toby Warrington, Lee Browning, JoshBice, DJ Davis, Stephen Limbacher, Kaleb West, Brandon Carter, Garrett Baldridge; (second row) Braden Puckett, JacobLerch, Craig Jackson II, Jeremy Crider, Cody VanHalen, Dakota Bullack, Cody Whaley, Matthew West; (back row) JeremyRatcliff, James Jones, Darian Schumacher, Raul I. Guerra III, Skylar Murphy, Drew Huffman, Dillon Hunick, Kordell Ford,Conner Johnston, Jesse Hale and Nathan Horne.

MCCLAIN TIGERS WRESTLING

Tigers look to continue building

Jim Jones/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 McCLAIN TIGERS WRESTLING TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Lonnie Adkins, Richie Rayburn, GaryRyan, Ethan Paul, Kylee Stroud, James Lain, Coty Barnhart, Roscoe East; (back row) assistant coach MattUnger, Brandon Davis, Dylan Wheaton, Jake Branham, Eric Rowe, Brendon Goble, Caleb Savage, KalebOsceola, Cody Black, Joe Unger, Dylan Trefz, assistant coach Scott Walker and coach Shane Paul.

Date Opponent

11/26/2011 @Ironton St. Joe

11/28/2011 @West Union

12/01/2011 Ripley

12/08/2011 Eastern Brown

12/12/2011 North Adams

12/15/2011 @Fayetteville

12/21/2011 @McClain

12/22/2011 Manchester

12/27/2011 @Williamsburg

12/28/2011 @Northwest

1/05/2012 @Peebles

1/07/2012 Hillsboro

1/09/2012 @Fairfield

1/12/2012 West Union

1/19/2012 @Ripley

1/23/2012 Fayetteville

1/26/2012 @Lynchburg-Clay

1/30/2012 @Manchester

2/02/2012 Fairfield

2/07/2012 Felicity

WO GIRLS SCHEDULE

continued from Page 3B“Nobody knows what to

expect from us because we areso young and most of the peo-ple in this community haven’tseen any of these kids play,”Eaton said.

The Tigers will be a defen-sive oriented team again thisseason, which has been thetrademark of McClain basket-ball for many seasons, begin-ning with legendary coachRick VanMatre.

“Our defense is very com-plicated,” Eaton said. “It’s areacting kind of defense, soyou really don’t have time tothink. You have to know whatyou need to do and do it. Wehave a tradition here that was

established long before me: wedefend and that’s what we dofirst.”

A big concern for theMcClain coaching staff will befinding a point guard to run theoffense. It has been a problemover the last couple of seasonsfor Eaton, but it always seemsto work out.

“Finding a true point guardis another concern,” he said.“We had that struggle last sea-son, but as the year went on wewere able to find the one weneeded. This year will be thesame. We’ll find the guy weneed through practice andeffort, but right now it’s allabout making good decisionsand getting the offense start-

ed.”Six players will be compet-

ing for the point guard spot,led by Thomas Shrader, EvanMustard and Roger Carroll.Trey Lytle, Brent Shannon andJohn Turner also have the abil-ity to play the position.

Inside the paint, JeremiahSavage and freshman RyanFaulconer are consideredmain-stays to begin the season,but finding a third post playeris another concern for Eaton.

“Jeremiah and Ryan areour two main post people rightnow, but we don’t have athird,” he said. “We need abackup post player and a pointguard. Those are two thingswe need to make sure we find

and that’s going to be aprocess.”

The style of offense thatMcClain plays will be a moreball-control type due to theiryouth and inexperience.

“With all of the youth thatwe have, we will need to con-trol possessions,” Eaton said.“We’re still going to have todefend and rebound well andmake sure we get good shotsevery time down the floor.

“... The kids really want tolearn. They get along and arevery supportive of each otherin school and at practice,always willing to help out theirfellow players and that’s ahuge positive for us.

“It’s going to take a lot

more teaching and not as muchyelling and motivating thisyear. It’s about getting better interms of understanding.

“Our kids have to find away to win and they will. Ireally believe that. We expectto win.

“We may have some rockyroads here and there, but ourmain goal is simple: win thenext one. The next drill. Thenext possession. The next shot.Just win the next one and that’swhat we’re going to focus on.

“I wouldn’t trade our kidsfor anyone and I feel like wehave something to prove thisyear. We have to reload andrestart and find a way to winand that’s the bottom line. No

Excuses. Just go get it done.”The SCOL should be very

competitive and fun to watchagain this season and Eatonbelieves that anybody can beatanybody on any given night.

“Clinton-Massie has a lotof key players returning andMadison-Plains and Londonhave almost everyone comingback, so those three teamsreturn the most experience,” hesaid. “The kids Hillsboro andMiami Trace have returningare very good with experienceat key spots.

“I think anybody can beatanybody this year and I reallybelieve that. Last year we beata first-place team and playedwith everyone.”

Tigers: Will continue to pride themselves on defensive end

continued from Page 12A“We had eight games where we were

tied or had a lead in the second half,”Cooper said. “I hope we can build off ofwhat we learned last season and close outsome of the games like that. We are goingto keep the ball in the hands of our seniorleadership and execute at the end of games.

“… I hope to see a lot more composureon the court. And a lot more aggression. …Basically, I want us to play together. Toplay as one.”

In order to achieve their goals, the LadyWildcats are looking to their seniors.

“Our senior leadership [is key for us],”Cooper said. “Jessie Gilliland and MarissaBohl have really stepped up in practice.They have been leading by example andhave stepped up as vocal leaders.”

Cooper is also looking to ClarissaJohnson to lead on the court.

“Clarissa Johnson has improved as aplayer,” he said. “She struggled a little atthe jayvee level, but she has come a longway. She has shown that she can be a verygood player for us.”

Lady ‘Cats:

Page 9: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

Thursday, November 24, 2011 Times-Gazette Page 9A

TIPOFF 2011

MCCLAIN LADY TIGER SHARKS SWIMMING

Lady Tiger Sharks enter season with low numbersBy JIM JONESThe Times-Gazette

Natalie Eaton begins herninth season as McClaingirls swim coach, but withjust six girls participating,she knows the program is inserious jeopardy.

“It’s a little frustrating,”Eaton said. “Having only sixgirls swimming makes itvery difficult to fill a lineup.Even with the low numbers,our main goal is to improveon our overall record fromlast season.

“Having just six peoplemakes it really hard to winmeets, so my focus againthis year will be more onindividual achievement.”

Three seniors ––Savannah Olaker, GrettaReyer and Jeana Copas ––will be the nucleus to thisyear’s team and shouldaccount for most of the scor-ing.

Olaker, who is a back-stroke specialist and alsocompetes in the individualmedleys, was one of themore successful swimmersfor the Lady Tiger Sharkslast year.

Reyer and Copas are pri-marily backstrokers, but willhave to pick up some of theslack in a couple otherevents.

Morgan Dettwiller is theonly junior on the team andwas also very impressive last

season when she won sever-al individual events and wasa member of some relayteams that finished first.

Two freshmen –– KayleeSmith and Amber Sowders –– both were on the juniorhigh squad last season andshould also contribute to thisyear’s success.

“This is a pretty close-knit group of girls and ourthree seniors are all reallygood role models, which isvery important for our teamunity,” Eaton said. “Anotherthing these girls are verygood at is encouraging eachother, especially in practicewhere they constantly pusheach other to get better.

“Sometimes it’s extreme-ly hard to stay positive ifyou’re not winning meets,but they have continued tobe great at cheering eachother on and being support-ive of each other trying hardto keep the moral up.

“It’s really dishearteningto see a program that hasbeen so successful over thelast several years struggle tosurvive and I’m very con-cerned about the future ofthis sport here at McClain. Ithink the numbers are downin almost every girls sportexcept for soccer, which isalso disappointing becausethere is nothing better thanbeing a part of a team.”

Garrett Smith, who was amember of several McClain

championship swim teams,takes over as junior highswim coach and shouldbring lots of experience andenthusiasm to the program.

“Garrett will be a bigasset to our program andhe’s looking to build ontechnique and strength, sohe’s heading in the rightdirection for us.”

The Lady Tigers Sharkswill once again be compet-ing in two leagues: thenewly formed South CentralOhio League and theSouthern Ohio SwimLeague, which they havebeen a part of for severalyears.

“The SCOL will be verycompetitive withWashington and MiamiTrace continuing to have bignumbers and building theirtalent levels which is hugefor both programs.

“Clinton-Massie isexpected to be very goodagain this year and is alwaysa big challenge for us.Cincinnati Christian Daywill be a powerhouse and theteam to beat in the SOSL,but several other schools aremerging, which will makethem very strong this season.

“My main goal as acoach this year is to see ourgirls to continue to workhard and stay determinedand hopefully get a coupleof our swimmers to the dis-tricts.”

Jim Jones/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 McCLAIN LADY TIGER SHARKS SWIM TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Savannah Olaker,Gretta Reyer; (back row) Kaylee Smith, coach Natalie Eaton, Morgan Dettwiller and AmberSowders. Not pictured: Jeana Copas.

MCCLAIN TIGER SHARKS SWIMMING

MHS looks to contend for title

Jim Jones/The Times-Gazette

THE 2011-12 McCLAIN TIGER SHARK SWIM TEAM –– (front row, l-r) Daniel Mottie, Ronald Wright, Trevor Figgins, Jimmy Free,Tommy Free; (back row) Nick Tolbert, Adomas Fabin, Nick Lawson, Kyle Brown, Aaron Litteral and coach Bradley George.

By JIM JONESThe Times-Gazette

Bradley George entershis 13th season as McClainboys swim coach and, likehis girl counterparts, sees hisprogram struggling to sur-vive due to poor participa-tion.

“My numbers are downagain this year with only 10boys swimming, so its kindof a carbon copy of last sea-son when we finished theyear with just eight boys,”George said. “In swimming,you need at least 12 to 14people to field a good teamand make it possible to com-pete in every event.

“It’s really discouragingand I think the main reasonfor the low numbers is moti-vation. It’s the X-Box gener-ation and kids today wouldrather sit on the couch or at acomputer than be a part of asport in which they wouldhave to work.”

McClain finished third inboth the South Central Ohio

League and Southern OhioSwim League last year,which was a big disappoint-ment after being at the topfor so many of the past sea-sons.

Jimmy Free, TrevorFiggins and Kyle Brown arethe three seniors returningfrom last year’s team and areall coming off of a success-ful season.

Figgins is a talented backstroker and freestyle sprint-er, while Free is a good 100-meter and distance swim-mer. Brown competes in thebutterfly and was also a dis-tance swimmer in the med-ley events.

Other top returningswimmers are AdomasFabin –– a sophomore whowas a distance performer ––along with Aaron Litteral,who competed in the backstroke events. Daniel Mottieand Nick Tolbert are second-year returners who should fitinto the mix in several differ-ent events.

Three new swimmers are

Ronald Wright –– a seniorfirst-year member –– andfreshmen Tommy Free andNick Lawson, who shouldhelp sure up the Tiger Sharksquad.

“Tommy (Free) has lotsof experience and speedcoming up from our juniorhigh program and hopefullywill contribute on a coupleof our relays,” George said.“I do have a little bigger coreof returning kids and shouldbe able to fill most of therelay events.

“I’m looking to build upour endurance at the begin-ning of the season. I wantspeed too, especially at theend of the year, but rightnow we really need to getstronger.”

George thinks that boththe SCOL and SOSL will bevery competitive and thenumbers could be low forseveral teams.

“It’s going to be interest-ing to start the season inboth leagues, because thereare a lot of unknowns,” he

said. “Washington andMiami Trace lost a lot ofseniors last year, but stillhave some experience com-ing back, as does Clinton-Massie.

“In the SOSL, we shouldbe able to compete prettywell, because most of thoseschools lost several swim-mers to graduation.[Cincinnati Christian Day]and New Richmond havealways been tough, but Ithink everybody this year isin the rebuilding stages.”

The SCOL meet will beat the McClain pool againthis year and coach Georgeis encouraging everyone inthe community to come outand support swimming.

“I hope everyone in thecommunity will come outand get behind these kidsand give them the supportand encouragement theydeserve,” he said. “If wecannot compete on a teamlevel this year, I would liketo see us succeed individual-ly, especially our seniors.”

continued from Page 3B“We have three or four

younger girls that will playboth jayvee and varsity andwe think they are very capa-ble of handling that.”

Rounding out the squadthis year will be sophomoresTara Karnes, Katy Unger andCaitlyn Lovett, along withfreshman Shania Massie andall of them have been impres-sive at the lower levels.

“The fact that we havejust 15 players could ulti-mately be a positive for usbecause we will be practicingtogether,” Overstake said.“Instead of having separatevarsity and reserve practices,now they will be combined,along with having all fourcoaches together at the sametime. Hopefully that will getours kids better fundamental-ly and quicker.”

Defense will again be theLady Tigers’ biggest point ofemphasis and key to theiroverall success on the season.

“We will depend on ourdefense to keep our opposi-tion from scoring, becausewe don’t have anyone rightnow that can score constantlyfor us like we did last year,”Overstake said. “We lost alittle over 20 points a gamescoring from last year's threeseniors and that needs to bereplaced, so we will have tosit down and play good soliddefense and limit the otherteam’s scoring output if we

want to have a chance towin.”

McClain should be afavorite to win the SCOL thisyear, along with defendingchampion Miami Trace andClinton-Massie.

“Every school in theleague has the same coachesback and Clinton-Massie hasa very strong program,returning with those two bigsophomores coming backand both can play all over thefloor,” Overstake said.“Miami Trace has low num-bers like us, but has a pro-gram that is solid from top tobottom and they are well-coached, so it’s going to be adog fight by the end of theseason to see who comes outon top.

“Our last scrimmage iswith North Adams, who hasseveral key returning playersand they have a good coach,so how we do in that oneshould give us a pretty goodindication on how we mightstart the season.”

The Lady Tigers open theseason on Friday, Dec. 2when they travel to ZaneTrace to play Adena in theTip-Off Classic with a 5 p.m.start time.

McClain then returnshome on Saturday Dec. 3 tohost Hillsboro in a 6 p.m.start, followed by anotherhome game againstLynchburg-Clay on the fol-lowing Monday.

Lady Tigers:

SAMMY ROOKS

Page 10: Winter 2011 Sports Preview

Page 10A Times-Gazette Thursday, November 24, 2011

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