The South Central girls basketball team will get their 2019-2020 season underway tonight on their home floor against Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City. The Cougars will do so with experience on their side, returning three starters and several other players who tallied significant varsity minutes last season.
Head Coach Breanne Swartzlander returns for her second year and says it will be girls like returning letter winners Kelsey Landreth, Kayli Swift, Sydnee Garrett, Adrianna Horton, Jessica Blomberg and Laney Webster that she expects to use their experience to set the tone for the team early in the season by building “trust, confidence and heart.”
After going 5-21 last year and 0-8 in the National Trail Conference, Swartzlander believes her team will pose more of a challenge this year. Offensively, South Central returns top scorer Webster who averaged 12.8 points a game and Garrett who averaged 6.3 points a game. The Cougars will be looking for other girls to also step up after losing second leading scorer Katlyn Hilmes to graduation.
South Central will play their first six games of the season on their home floor and Swartzlander will get to see how the girls will begin to fit into their roles on this year’s team. Of what she expects from her new and returning players, Swartzlander says she feels like her “starters this year will be more of a cohesive unit. I have several girls like Sierra Wright and Adrianna Horton that played some varsity last year that will step up and do great coming off the bench this year. I also have a few freshmen that will most likely be seeing some varsity time due to the fact that they work their tale off and are just great athletes.”