NORTH MANCHESTER – The foundation, said second-year Manchester High School girls basketball coach Jake Everett, has been laid. Now he wants the Lady Squires to put some of the building blocks in place. In Everett's first season with the team, Manchester posted an overall record of 8-15. By most standards, that would be considered a disappointing season. For the Lady Squires, however, it was a successful campaign, as they won seven more games than they did the previous season under former coach Brooke Airgood. With his system now in place, Everett is eager to see what his girls can do this season, which starts Saturday when the team travels to Adams Central. “I don't have to start at the very beginning with them, the very basics,” Everett said when asked what was different about going into his second season, as opposed to being new to the program last year. “I don't have to break them down from wherever they were at before to where I want them to be. “We've started to actually build on some of the things we started last year. We laid the foundation, so to speak, and we're starting to put those building blocks together. We really kind of see it every now and then. We have glimpses of really good things. We're still not quite there yet, we have glimpses where we we're not very good, but you'll have that with any team that's still learning.” This year's 12-player varsity roster includes six juniors, as well as two seniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. Juniors on the varsity squad include Drew Thompson, Ellie Milam, Bethany Collett, Rae Bedke, Bailey Sewell and Cierra Carter. Others on the roster are seniors Natasha Niccum and Tiffany Johnson, sophomores Sydney Day and Erika Kendall, and freshmen Kennedy Fierstos and Emma West. “We've got two seniors ... Tiffany Johnson is a returner and Natasha Niccum played JV for us last year,” said Everett. As far as our senior leadership, that's it. We have a big junior class that were sophomores last year and got a lot of varsity action. We're going to be primarily juniors, with some sophomores and potentially some freshmen. I told them they're crossing this chasm between being a sophomore and being a junior. There's a lot more expectations that come with being a junior. Learning how to play as a junior would play against maybe some competition that's not as experienced is something that we're gonna have to continue to develop throughout the season.” Everett said he doesn't have a starting five that's set in stone, as he's narrowing it down from six. “I'm at six players right now, I'm not quite sure,” said Everett. “I've got Bedke, Carter, Thompson, Day, Sewell and Johnson. And then there's some guards that can come off the bench. That's kind of where we're at.” Everett said he'll probably start the season with a rotation that includes eight or nine players, and he hopes to be able to expand that. After Saturday's season opener at Adams Central, the Lady Squires will have a week to get ready for their Nov. 14 home opener against Bluffton. Manchester opens Three Rivers Conference play Nov. 17 when it hosts Maconaquah, which joined the league this year along with Peru. The Lady Squires were 1-6 in the TRC last year.
