By Chris Parker
Fair Play girls basketball has a new head coach in Mark Vert this season. Vert brings 40 years of coaching experience to Fair Play.
He inherits a program coming off a 7-19 season with four total letterwinners returning.
Those four are Ashlynne Kirksey (senior), Alexis Francka (junior), Chloe Bruce (sophomore) and MeKenzie Evans (sophomore).
Kirksey scored 6.6 points with 7.5 rebounds per game last season.
“Ashlynne was the second leading scorer and second leading rebounder,” Vert said. “She is a gifted athlete with a huge upside. She will need to finish with and without contact in the post. She can become an elite post player with time and hard work.”
Francka led the way with 8.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game last season. She was named second-team all-conference and all-district.
“(Francka is) another good athlete who can shoot from inside and out,” Vert said. “She must develop her game quickly to benefit her team and use her ability.”
Bruce pulled down 3.9 rebounds per game with 1.7 points per game.
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“(Bruce is a) very hard working player in the gym and in the classroom,” Vert said. (She is a) competitor who pushes herself to be better.”
Evans averaged 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
“(Evans) showed a lot of promise as a three-point shooter in her freshman year,” Vert said. “She must continue to grow in order to improve.”
Cheyenne West (senior), Anna Grove (senior), Chloe Foster (junior), Dakota West (sophomore), Jillian Moore (freshman), Alidia Mettler (freshman) and Alexis Bee (freshman) will be newcomers to watch.
Fair Play opens the season Nov. 20-22 at its home tournament.
“We must improve in every category every day, shooting, fundamentals, offense, defense, rebounding, handling pressure full and half court, in order to survive in our conference and district (which) are loaded with talented teams,” Vert said. “Our kids worked very hard this summer to begin the process that is in front of us. We have some athletic players of our own and we will accept the challenge every day and every game.”
