Wilmington Tourney Provides Fall Hardwood Forecast
Germantown, OH (August 3, 2004) The Lady Spartans' basketball team has been practicing all summer in anticipation of hitting the hardwood in the fall. The girls know they have a big spot to fill after the graduation of standout Stacey Strayer, and they are all determined to do it.
The team traveled to Wilmington a few weeks ago to participate in the school's annual basketball tournament. The Lady Spartans' played on Thursday and Friday of the two-day tournament.
There were a total of seven girls that competed in the tournament on each day; Kayla Kerns, Jennifer Hanahan, Brittney Hasty, Coryn Ritze, Stephanie Powers, Laura Tipton and Krista Smith. Freshman Jessie Rowland played in the tournament on Friday because Smith wasn't able to make it.
Doug Hanahan traveled with the girls on Friday and was very pleased with the results he saw.
"They did well. They played some big schools like Springboro. There were some schools from Columbus there as well," Hanahan said.
As a result of some of the other summer sports activities that are available, there weren't a lot of girls that could participate in the tournament, but Hanahan understood that and in fact encourages the girls to participate in the other sports.
"We did really well, but we were shorthanded because a lot of the other teams had 10-12 kids with them," Hanahan said.
"It's really different with summer tournaments because a lot of girls play soccer and we feel that's what they should be concentrating on because their season is coming up this fall," Hanahan stated.
Even after the seven game tournament several of the girls had to travel to Columbus for a soccer invitational.
"We don't expect all the girls to be at conditioning and tournaments during the summer because we understand they have other commitments," Hanahan commented.
The atheletes' dedication is really shown through the amount of time they spend at all their sporting events. The girls could stay home a couple days before their next competition, but they don't.
"A lot of the girls went to Columbus that Saturday for a soccer tournament. They only had one night off at home and then had to travel to Columbus," Hanahan commented.
The tournament set the standard that the coaches want to see this season, now that Strayer is moving on to the collegiate level at Morehead State University.
"With Stacey gone we are looking for someone to step up and handle the ball. And not just one person, but everyone. We need a lot of quick passing and intensity on the court," Hanahan stated.
The girls had a tough weekend going up against some of the best teams in the area. All of the games the Spartans played in were close, within four points.
The girls went up against Springboro, falling by three points before playing a Columbus team, coached by CJ's assistant coach, and only fell by four points.
"They battled with Springboro, who had 12 girls, but lost by three. Then, we went up against a strong Columbus team and lost," Hanahan commented.
The final game the Spartans played was against Wilmington and although the girls trailed off and on they came out on top after a shot by Jennifer Hanahan.
"We were down by one point in the last minute of the game when Jennifer made a two-point shot with 20 seconds to go. We had a time-out and put all the girls in motion. Our plan was for the first girl open to take a shot and Jennifer came out caught the pass and it a nice long shot to win the game," Hanahan said.
"We played great defense and each girl worked really hard," Hanahan added.
In this tournament alone, Hanahan watched the girls improve in each game.
"They improved with each game. You could just see them improving. They got the win against Wilmington because they didn't make any mistakes," Hanahan said.
"I told them that they need to play intense basketball with no mistakes and that will win those kind of games," Hanahan mentioned.
Looking into the upcoming season, Hanahan feels the team will have a great season.
"We need to play hard and with intensity. We need to have a great defense and offense, but what it really comes down to is errors. If we have no mistakes, we will win games," Hanahan added.
