NORTH MANCHESTER – To say that Manchester High School's varsity girls basketball team is entering a new era would be an understatement. Not only do the Lady Squires have a new head coach in Brooke Airgood, who replaces Mark Underwood, they have five freshmen and a sophomore on their 12-player roster. Needless to say, when Manchester hosts Bluffton in tonight's season opener, there will be plenty of new faces on the bench for the Lady Squires. “I'm ready to be home, I bought a house and I plan to stay as long as they'll have me,” said Airgood, who grew up in North Manchester before moving to Arizona after her freshman year at MHS in 1991. “The players are getting used to things. The freshman are new, so everything would be new to them anyway. Right now we're trying to get the players to mesh. We have older girls, and we have some really young girls. We have to get them to mesh.” In Underwood's 12 years at the helm of the program, the Lady Squires were 162-104. During that time, the Lady Squires won four Three Rivers Conference championships and three sectional titles. After graduating from high school in Arizona, Airgood went to Scottsdale Community College and was an All-American in the javelin throw. She has coached basketball, both boys and girls, in Arizona, California and Texas. Airgood said hoops out west was about superstars and individual play. She said she's excited to be a part of basketball in the Hoosier State, where she believes things are more team-oriented. “In California, it was more about individuals,” said Airgood. “It's fun to have superstars, but I prefer to be part of a team. That's the big difference. We don't have any superstars here. We're gonna work hard and win as a team.” Manchester was 8-15 overall last year and 2-5 in TRC play. Gone from that team is Kayla Flack, who graduated after leading the team in scoring at 13 points per game and in rebounding with nearly seven boards per contest. Also gone from last season's squad are Bekah Brunn, Autumn Brewer and Kalene Freshour. Those four aforementioned players scored 30 of Manchester's 41 points per game. The Lady Squires' leading scorer returning is senior Tabby Dewitt, who averaged just under six points per game last year. Sydney Snep returns for her senior season after scoring three points per contest last year. There are only two other seniors on this year's varsity roster, Kiana Gillum and Emily Haecker. The rest of Manchester's roster consists of juniors Kaitlyn Parrett and Celina Carter, sophomore Katelyn Andritsch and freshmen Drew Thompson, Ellie Milam, Brooklyn Howard, Rae Bedke and Cierra Carter. Keeping it close to the vest, Airgood, who said her team will use a run-and-gun style of offense, didn't want to reveal the names of her five starters. She did, however, say she would “probably be going with an upplerclassmen and four freshmen.” “The freshmen, skill-wise, are a very talented class,” said Airgood. “I feel pretty confident,” she added. “We're a lot better than we were two weeks ago.” After tonight's season opener, the Lady Squires will be in action again Nov. 22 at Mississinewa before hosting Winamac Nov. 23. Manchester opens TRC play Dec. 7 when it hosts Northield.
