By Allen VanNess (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It is not easy to finish the year with only six players, but that is exactly what the Sparta Lady Trojans did last year as they finished with a 3-22 record and a seventh place finish in the Southwest Central League (SWCL) conference. With most of their starters back and eight freshman hungry to make their mark, the lack of returning players should not be a problem this season for Sparta.
Fortunately for the Lady Trojans, new head coach Joshua Loveland is familiar with the team after spending last season as assistant coach.
Graduating only Sabrina Lafferty last season, Sparta returns four players who were all starters. Those returning are seniors Breann Anderson and Genesis McTeer, junior Liz Yeager and sophomore Tiffany Lafferty.
“Breann plays a forward spot, and I am expecting her to have a breakout senior season,” said Loveland. “She’s small for her position, but she works hard. She will get some rebounds and put backs and also step out to hit some 3s.”
Along with Anderson, McTeer and Yeager also have another year of experience under their belts and should give the Lady Trojans a more balanced attack this season.
“Genesis is a post player with good mid-range game,” said Hart. “She works hard on both ends of the court and will benefit from having a good bench this year by having people around her to play in the post. Liz is a good shooting guard who had to play point guard last year. With the freshman coming up this year, I am anticipating Liz to have a much better year offensively because she can split time between point guard and shooting guard. She is a great three-point shooter when she is able to get her feet set.”
Sophomore Tiffany Lafferty also returns after a solid freshman season and is expected to play an even bigger role in 2016-2017.
“Tiffany had a pretty good freshman year last year, but I expect much better things from her this year,” Hart said. “Competition is going to make everyone step up their game this year, and all of these girls will be better for it. Tiffany was our best scorer off the dribble last year, and she can shoot the three as well.”
Even with four returning starters back, Loveland knows and expects his incoming freshmen to play big minutes this season.
Freshmen expected to make an impact include Jadrien Hyatt, Maggie Brown, Kamryn Gilley, Alyssa Diers and Elyssa Tate.
Hyatt is a forward who plays hard defensively and offensively and will bring energy to the team, while Brown and Gilley look to give the Lady Trojans solid ball handlers and take pressure off the returning guards from last season. Diers and Tate both improved much this summer and expect to help the varsity team as well.
Even with so many young athletes coming to the team, expectations are high in Sparta.
“I expect us to play harder defensively this year and be more competitive in every single game,” said Loveland. “We are going to be young; however, we are going to be pretty quick, going to get after people, and then push it up the floor in transition.”
Sparta kicks off its season on Nov. 21 when they travel to Fair Play to play in the Fair Play Tournament.
