By Chris Parker
Clever girls basketball has a new head coach in Clark Satterlee this season. Satterlee is familiar with Clever serving as an assistant in the boys program for the past 18 years starting in 2003. He also has been a head coach on the junior high boys program.
He takes over a Lady Jays basketball program that finished 8-15 last year, but had five consecutive seasons with at least 18 wins leading up to last year.
A solid core returns to help lead the way in Satterlee’s first season.
Senior Riah Robinson was a first-team all-conference selection last year after she averaged 19.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.
“Riah can score multiple ways. She is a threat to put it on the floor and she also has range from deep,” Satterlee said. “She can fill up the scoreboard with buckets and that’s what we need her to do. She’ll be counted on defensively as well, but she is an established scorer that we will lean on.”
Fellow senior Ruthie Brown was named second-team all-conference last year. She led the Lady Jays in rebounding at 8.3 per game to go with 10.9 points per game.
“Ruthie has a good combination of size and basketball IQ that allows her to put herself in the right spot to make plays and grab rebounds,” Satterlee said. “Ruthie has played varsity basketball since she was a freshmen, so we’ll look to her for on court leadership, especially in the big moments. I expect her scoring to increase this year as well.
Junior Chloe Stidham will also return to the team finding a spot in the starting lineup.
“(Stidham is a) player who brings a lot of toughness to the team. She will do a lot of the things that may not show up on the stat sheet, but will help the team win games,” Satterlee said.
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A pair of sophomores in Ireland Jones and Jayleign Flood will also find their way into the starting lineup. Jones averaged 4.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as a freshman. Flood posted averages of 3.4 points and 3.9 rebounds.
“(Jones is a) talented point guard who missed the last few weeks of the previous season due to a knee injury. She is fully recovered and we expect her to cause havoc on both ends of the floor this year,” Satterlee said. “(Flood is a) superb athlete who will most nights draw the assignment of defending the other team’s best player. We will look to utilize her speed out in the open court.”
Sophomore Brylie Hicks also returns for Clever after lettering last year.
Sophomores Riley Britton and Baillie McClanahan will be newcomers expected to make a varsity impact. Britton is a versatile wing who can shoot and drive while guarding multiple positions. McClanahan is a post who can also step out and shoot.
Junior Rylee Lansdown and sophomores Chloe Smith, Emma Anders, Jadynn Johnson along with freshmen Sydney Bollenbach, Chandlyr Friend, Piper Steele and Sofia Clark will compete to fill out the varsity roster.
Defense will be a hallmark of this team.
“We’re going to work hard on the defensive end and make that our focus,” Satterlee said. “I think we have a nice mix of speed and athleticism to wreak some havoc there.”
Clever will travel to Nixa for a jamboree on Nov. 17 before opening the regular season on Nov. 22 at home against Marshfield.
“(Our identity will be to) guard hard and play smart on offense. We’ll really try to use our defense to help create our offense and then take a disciplined approach on offense in the half court,” Satterlee said. “I feel like we have the talent to be competitive every night and I think we will be in the mix come district time.”
