Lady Squires Make Offseason Investments
October 31, 2018 at 4:37 p.m.
Lady Squires Make Offseason Investments
By Dale [email protected]
“I already know where this team is headed because of what they’ve already invested,” said Everett, now in his fifth season with the Lady Squires.
“They’ve already invested a lot, and to see where they’re at the end of the season, after three and a half months, we’ll be something special, and it will be a breakout year.”
The Lady Squires went 23-23 the past two seasons, posting a 12-11 record two years ago and an 11-12 mark last season.
Everett has 12 players on this year’s varsity roster, a class breakdown of four seniors, four juniors and four sophomores.
Kennedy Fierstos, Emma West, Jirni Cripe and Kennidy Lauer make up Manchester’s senior quartet, and are joined on the roster by juniors Kiera Hatfield, Ranissa Shambarger, Bailey Mooney and Mackenzie Day, and sophomores Eva Bazzoni, Emma Garriott, Morgan Parrett and Beletu Stout.
“We’ve got four seniors, and they’ve been with me all the way through,” said Everett. “Last year’s senior group was my first group to go all the way through, play four years with me, and this year’s senior group is the second to go all the way through with me.
“They’re also group leaders on our team. They’re in charge of their own group and their own pillar on our team. It’s kind of cool to see their maturity grow, and their leadership, and they’re showing that to the team, being that they are their own positional leader.”
Fierstos led the Lady Squires in scoring last year at 11 points per game and was a Times-Union All-Area First-Team selection.
West was also in the starting lineup last season.
Hatfield has the most varsity experience among the juniors on the team.
“Kiera Hatfield is coming back with experience,” said Everett.
“Beyond that, we don’t have very many juniors that have varsity experience. We’ve got a lot girls that played a lot of minutes on our junior varsity because we had two classes ahead of them that have had players who filled that role.
“We’re looking for them to step up this year and fill that role.”
The Lady Squires open the season with three home games, hosting Adams Central Saturday, Lewis Cass on Nov. 6 and Warsaw the following day.
Manchester will play its first road game, also its first Three Rivers Conference game, on Nov. 10 at Maconaquah.
“I don’t know if its an advantage or disadvantage,” Everett said of playing four of the first five games at home. “It means we’re gonna play a lot of road games in January.
“The good thing is we don’t have to travel early, but when we get into the later months of the winter we’ll be on the road a lot.”
Manchester is scheduled to play five TRC games in January, three of them will be on the road.
“I think this is the year where you’re not quite sure,” Everett said when asked about the conference.
“There have been years where you look at a team and you know exactly who they’re gonna be and what they’re gonna do. I can’t say I know a lot of the teams this year. I can’t say that I know exactly who those top tier teams are gonna be.
“It seems like there was more turnover and graduation in the TRC than before. There’s some great players that left that are now playing in college. I’m just not sure what the makeup of the conference teams is going to be, our team included.”
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“I already know where this team is headed because of what they’ve already invested,” said Everett, now in his fifth season with the Lady Squires.
“They’ve already invested a lot, and to see where they’re at the end of the season, after three and a half months, we’ll be something special, and it will be a breakout year.”
The Lady Squires went 23-23 the past two seasons, posting a 12-11 record two years ago and an 11-12 mark last season.
Everett has 12 players on this year’s varsity roster, a class breakdown of four seniors, four juniors and four sophomores.
Kennedy Fierstos, Emma West, Jirni Cripe and Kennidy Lauer make up Manchester’s senior quartet, and are joined on the roster by juniors Kiera Hatfield, Ranissa Shambarger, Bailey Mooney and Mackenzie Day, and sophomores Eva Bazzoni, Emma Garriott, Morgan Parrett and Beletu Stout.
“We’ve got four seniors, and they’ve been with me all the way through,” said Everett. “Last year’s senior group was my first group to go all the way through, play four years with me, and this year’s senior group is the second to go all the way through with me.
“They’re also group leaders on our team. They’re in charge of their own group and their own pillar on our team. It’s kind of cool to see their maturity grow, and their leadership, and they’re showing that to the team, being that they are their own positional leader.”
Fierstos led the Lady Squires in scoring last year at 11 points per game and was a Times-Union All-Area First-Team selection.
West was also in the starting lineup last season.
Hatfield has the most varsity experience among the juniors on the team.
“Kiera Hatfield is coming back with experience,” said Everett.
“Beyond that, we don’t have very many juniors that have varsity experience. We’ve got a lot girls that played a lot of minutes on our junior varsity because we had two classes ahead of them that have had players who filled that role.
“We’re looking for them to step up this year and fill that role.”
The Lady Squires open the season with three home games, hosting Adams Central Saturday, Lewis Cass on Nov. 6 and Warsaw the following day.
Manchester will play its first road game, also its first Three Rivers Conference game, on Nov. 10 at Maconaquah.
“I don’t know if its an advantage or disadvantage,” Everett said of playing four of the first five games at home. “It means we’re gonna play a lot of road games in January.
“The good thing is we don’t have to travel early, but when we get into the later months of the winter we’ll be on the road a lot.”
Manchester is scheduled to play five TRC games in January, three of them will be on the road.
“I think this is the year where you’re not quite sure,” Everett said when asked about the conference.
“There have been years where you look at a team and you know exactly who they’re gonna be and what they’re gonna do. I can’t say I know a lot of the teams this year. I can’t say that I know exactly who those top tier teams are gonna be.
“It seems like there was more turnover and graduation in the TRC than before. There’s some great players that left that are now playing in college. I’m just not sure what the makeup of the conference teams is going to be, our team included.”
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