By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Willy Morgan starts his fifth season as the Hollister Lady Tigers head coach. Morgan, who has a 23-71 win/loss record, will be looking to improve on last year’s 9-17 record.
“We just want to improve from last year,” said Morgan. “We want to compete in every game and improve our win total from last season.”
Hollister returns three seniors and a junior to the lineup. The seniors are: guard Alexa Bekemeier, who averaged nine points and five rebounds per game last year; post KK Thomas (8 Pts, 5 Rbs per game) and post Raven Ross (7 Pts, 8 Rbs per game). Junior Maddy Frenzel rounds out the returning starters.
Four other Tigers return this season as varsity letter winners. They are junior guard Mallory Donovant, junior guard Mackie Green, junior post Beca Clarida and sophomore post Shayne Gilliam.
Morgan expects much from his returning starters and letter winners.
“Our girls finally got to taste some success last season and hopefully they will come back hungry for more,” said Morgan. “Our three senior leaders will be key in leading us by example this season. I expect big things from them statistically!”
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Rounding out the Tigers’ bench this season will be two junior guards, Taylor Sellers and Jullian Narvez, along with sophomore guard Cheyann Coffelt. Three freshmen will be pressing for varsity minutes this year as well. These freshmen are: guard Kyla McClintic, guard Alivia Hackman and post Nesa Clarida.
“I think several of our younger girls will get varsity experience this season,” said Morgan. “This should help us for years to come.”
Optimism would be a key word in describing this Tiger team. After a successful summer, Morgan is hoping that will transfer into the season.
“We had another great summer going to Missouri Southern Team Camp,” said Morgan. “We stole a couple of wins from the bigger schools and did what we needed to do against the smaller schools. Our underclassmen stepped up this summer and showed the coaches and upperclassmen that they will be competing for varsity spots. We proved this summer that we can win games with the new style that we will play.”
Morgan believes his girls will have to stay focused to achieve their goals.
“We want to compete every night,” said Morgan. “We want to be a factor in conference play and show our entire schedule how much we have improved.”
