Arrows look for quickness  to produce more victories

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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer 1:51 AM Friday, November 25, 2011

CAMDEN — Joe Webster already feels like a winner.

The Preble Shawnee High School girls basketball team has gone from 0-19 to 4-16 to 7-13 in his first three years as head coach. That’s impressive, but it’s not why Webster is smiling.

“I’ve got better people than I do basketball players,” he said. “I’m tickled to death about how the program is changing, but I never get tied up in the winning and losing part of it. I want all of our girls to go on to college and get an education because that’s more important.

“Do we want to compete and win? Yes,” Webster added. “But at the end of the night, if they can tell me they gave their best effort, I’m OK with that. We’re winners whether we win or not.”

The Arrows have only two seniors, but they return quite a bit of experience from a squad that notched just four victories in the Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye Division.

“We have a volleyball, softball, soccer school, and we don’t always get the kids out that we want to get out,” Webster said. “But this is an experienced group of kids. We don’t have that one great player, but I’ve got a lot of interchangeable pieces. I think we’ll be competitive with most of the teams on our schedule.”

Shawnee is hoping that quickness leads to success because, once again, there isn’t much size on the team.

“I’ve never been blessed with size out here,” Webster said. “We’re not going to sit in a halfcourt offense and try a lot of schemes. It’s not going to work. If we’re not pushing the ball, we’ve got a problem. The plan is basically attack, and if that doesn’t work, attack again.”

The returning full-time starters are juniors: forward Courtney Lakes, guard Cheyanne Edwards and point guard Sidney Brown. Lakes and Brown combined for nearly 20 points per game last season, and Edwards averaged about four steals a contest.

Mackenzie Steele, a 5-9 junior, did some starting last season and will be a key figure in the paint for the Arrows.

“Mackenzie’s probably been the biggest surprise so far,” Webster said. “She’s a more physical kid this year, and she’s athletic.”

Senior forward Leah Mertz also returns after playing a backup role in 2010-11. Hannah Belvo, a 5-9 senior, adds depth down low, but hasn’t played basketball since her freshman year.

Webster said junior Bridget Thomas, sophomore Sydney Steele and freshman Adrianna Moore are expected to be contributing guards.

“Playing an up-tempo game, you’ve got to be able to get people in and out,” Webster said. “One thing we lack is a pure shooter. Brown, Thomas and Moore are the best outside shooters. They would be the ones chucking the puck.”

Roster

Player Pos. Ht. Yr.

Hannah Belvo C 5-9 Sr.

Sidney Brown G 5-5 Jr.

Cheyanne Edwards G 5-6 Jr.

Courtney Lakes F 5-7 Jr.

Kaela Mertz F 5-8 So.

Leah Mertz F 5-7 Sr.

Adrianna Moore G 5-6 Fr.

Mackenzie Steele C 5-9 Jr.

Sydney Steele G 5-6 So.

Bridget Thomas G 5-4 Jr.