By Chris Parker
Stoutland girls basketball team was a young team last year relying on a strong group of freshmen. Those freshmen are now sophomores and will continue to lead a Stoutland team looking to improve on last season’s 12-win campaign.
“The team leaders will come from a trio of sophomores that have a ton of talent and have been working hard on their individual games this past summer,” Stoutland head coach Dayton Robison said.
That sophomore trio includes Schona Looney, Reagen Henry and Cadence Chaffin.
Looney earned honorable mention all-conference and first-team all-district honors last season. She averaged a team-high 12.8 points per game. Henry was secondo on the team in scoring at 7.7 ppg with 5.8 rebounds per game. Chaffin added in 5.6 points per game.
Bethany Kincaid will also be a team leader as the only senior on the roster. She scored 2.4 ppg as a junior.
Junior Paris Francis will be a key player in the post. She averaged 5.8 points per game with a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game last season.
“Paris Francis has taken big steps toward being a great post player for us,” Robison said. “She has greatly improved on her foot work and her ability to score around the rim.”
Stoutland will again rely on freshmen this season with a class of seven entering the program.
“As far as newcomers, we have a big freshmen class of seven players that could make big impacts for us right away,” Robison said. “But one stood out this summer and that is Mallory Shaw, she is one of the most competitive female athletes I have ever seen and will make us a lot better on both ends of the floor.”
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This year’s group of Lady Tigers brings a lot of speed to the floor but will need to execute better in closing out games.
“Our speed and defensive intensity are what I hope we will hang our hat on and make it very difficult for other teams,” Robison said. “To find the most success it would just be execution. This summer we played a ton of very talented teams. We lost a few of those games because of end of game situational stuff my kids have never been in before we did not execute everything the way we needed to. If we clean that up we will be much better.”
Stoutland opens the season on Nov. 18 at Halfway.
“I want us to be known for being the fastest, most mentally and physically tough team in our area,” Robison said. “That no matter the score or who we are playing we bring our best every night.”
