By Chris Parker
Gainesville girls basketball is looking to bounce back from a four-win season with five players returning.
“We have five returning players from last year’s team with varsity minutes ranging anywhere from 15-24 minutes per game,” Gainesville head coach Lance West said. “This includes three returning starters: Sarah Hossman, Jillian Morse, and Lakyn Suter. The rest of the returning players from last year’s team, Laney Suter and Andrea Winrod, will both be contributors and give valuable minutes once again this season.”
Hossman averaged 4.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.2 steals per game as a junior.
“Sarah is a guard that led our team in assists and steals last year,” West said. “She is long a lanky and does a good job on both ends of the floor. She sees the floor well on both offense and defense and I look for her to have a good senior year.”
Morse contributed 2.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2 steals per game as a junior.
“Jillian might not be very big but she is feisty and plays with a lot of energy,” West said. “She is probably our fastest player on our team. She is an effort leader in practice. She has shown a lot of growth at the point guard position. We will lean on her to help take care of the ball for us this year.”
Lakyn Suter is the team’s leading retuning scorer at 5.5 points per game. She has also had 2.6 rebounds, 1 assists and 1.6 steals per game in her junior season.
“Lakyn led our team last year in three point and free throw percentages,” West said. “She is a good set shooter and we will look for Lakyn to hit some big shots for us again this year. She is a good defender and is willing to do whatever it takes for her team to win.”
Laney Suter will look to improve her numbers from 1.3 points and 1.8 rebounds per game a year ago as a sophomore.
“Laney has put in a lot of work during this past year on her offensive game,” West said. “She seems very eager to get this season started. You can tell she is more confident in her shooting, and I look for Laney to be a threat for our team from the outside.”
Winrod had a strong freshman season averaged 5.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
“Andrea is athletic and strong,” West said. “She plays really hard on both ends of the floor and is the type of player that will do whatever it takes to give our team a chance to win. Andrea had a strong second half of the season. She is a diverse player that can play guard or post.”
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Freshmen Addie Alms, Kelsie Hogan and Lauren Smith will also be in contention for varsity time.
Alms brings size standing at 5’10.
“Addie’s size is something this team has been waiting on for a while,” West said. “Her inside presence will be a big factor for us on both ends of the floor this season. She understands the game well and she will have an immediate impact on our team this season.”
Hogan and Smith will work to get used the speed of the varsity game.
“They both work extremely hard and it will be ultimately up to them on how fast they can adapt and develop at the varsity level,” West said.
Experience and size will be a strength for Gainesville.
“We will have more experience and some much needed size going into the season,” West said. “Having five returning players from last year’s team, along with a true big in freshman Addie Alms, we will have an advantage going into the season from last year’s team. Our team chemistry is also in a good place right now to start the year and we will continue to build off that. As long as the team has the right mindset, attitude, along with hard work and dedication, we will be able to be that competitive team we want to be.”
Gainesville opens the regular season on Nov. 17 at home against Cabool.
“For our team to have the success we hope to have we need to stay healthy,” West said. “We battled too much sickness and too many injuries last year. Numbers wise, we will only have about eight girls playing varsity this season. I truly believe this team can have a breakout season if we can stay healthy. We are going to take it one game at time, while doing our best to improve daily, in hopes to be playing our best basketball come February.”
