By Chris Parker
College Heights girls basketball will be reloading coming off two of the best seasons in program history. Two years ago, the Lady Cougars went 26-3 and won a district title. Last year, College Heights finished 22-3 coming up just short of a second straight district title.
Gone from that team are four all-conference selections including: Grace Bishop (first-team), Lainey Lett (second-team), Catie Secker (honorable mention) and Kaynahn Burk (honorable mention).
The junior trio of Jayli Johnson (point guard), Lauren Ukena (guard) and Addie Lawrence (post) will be the team leaders this year. Johnson earned honorable mention all-conference honors last season after she averaged 6.5 points, 3.4 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals per game.
Sophomore Maddy Colin is the only other returning player that saw significant varsity action last year. She plays both guard and post.
A trio of freshmen in Libby Fanning (center), Molly Long (post) and Ava Lett (guard) will make immediate varsity impacts.
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“We hope to continue building off last year’s strengths, which were our defense and transition game. We will still have some very good quickness. Time will tell if we will have the depth to sustain the up-tempo style of play we have used the last few years that led to a great deal of success,” College Heights head coach Jon Blankenship said. “We will have a lot of inexperienced players stepping in for us this year. We had a strong senior class last year that played the bulk of the minutes. We will have to quickly develop our younger players to offset some of the things those seniors brought.”
College Heights travels to McAuley Catholic for a jamboree on Nov. 16 with Carthage and McAuley Catholic. The Lady Cougars open the regular season on Nov. 19 at Providence Academy.
“I am optimistic,” Blankenship said. “We were 48-6 over the last two seasons. That’s a high bar to reach again, but this group wants to win and they will work hard. We are rebuilding, but I think this team will find its identity quickly and work well together.”
