The Lady Mavericks of Manchester Academy enjoyed a successful season a year ago when they placed second in the district.
After such a successful season, they lost two starters due to graduation.
But that doesn’t mean the Lady Mavs will be in complete rebuild mode.
They return a lot of talented pieces.
One key piece that Manchester will be returning this year is Macy Huggins, who was the top offensive player in the district a year ago.
According to Manchester Academy head girls basketball coach Emily Poe, Huggins has added a certain amount of maturity that comes with experience, and it has helped her game.
“She has stepped into the role of point guard, the floor general,” Poe said. “She controls everything out there. As an 11th grader, she’s still young, but the maturity level has been improved. She likes to put the ball on the floor and drive, but with a little maturity this year, she’s able to drive and dish it out.”
Down low, Suzanne King rules the paint for Manchester.
Poe believes she can be a dominant force if she can stay out of foul trouble.
“We are definitely a better team with Suzanne on the floor,” Poe said. “Her size and physicality can get her in trouble. If she can play straight up defense and make people shoot over her instead of going for the block, she’s going to be alright. She is offensive-oriented. We like to get the ball to her as much as we can. She goes hard to the glass.”
Starting beside King will be Elise Sowell, who is moving from the guard position back to a more natural position in the post. She will give the Lady Mavs a lot of flexibility.
“This year Elise will move down into the post since we had a senior graduate from last year’s team,” Poe said. “She played it some in her ninth grade year, but she was a guard all last year. She will be able to play defense on guards or step down and bang it up in the paint. She gives us some flexibility.”
Lanie Potter, an 8th grader, will also play a massive role for Manchester, though she will have to managed her six quarters a night well.
“Of course, I want to give her the time to shine in junior high, so I’m not going to forgo the junior high games,” Poe said. “Lanie is kind of finding herself. Last year she was so tall that we could just throw it down to her in the paint in junior high. Now, she’s making moves to the basket and working on her outside shooting so that she is more of a threat.”
Suzanne King and Lanie Potter will provide a formidable one-two punch down low for the Lady Mavericks, while Elise will give the Lady Mavericks added length at the wing at times.
Poe believes that set may be one of her biggest weapons.
“We do have a lot of sets with Lanie and Suzanne in the paint and Elise at the wing,” Poe said. “That may be the best options to give us height and strength.”
A staple of Emily Poe teams is the use of an elite defender to lock down the opposing team’s best scorer.
Two years ago she had Kaylin Lloyd, and last year she had Izzy Mills.
This year she has the luxury of having two players with the ability to fill that role, both of which have earned the two available starting spots and will be playing significant roles.
Libbi Kyle Ragland, now a senior, paid her dues and waited her turn, and now she has broken into the starting lineup.
Poe will use her as a key utility player.
“She’s got a great outside shot, and she’s very quick on defense,” Poe said. “She’s one of those utility players that we want to focus on defense.”
On the other wing, Ashlee Sowell worked her way onto the court with a tireless work ethic.
“Ashlee is my little scrapper,” Poe said. “She’s always in the right place at the right time. What I admire about Ashlee is that it doesn’t matter what you ask her to do, no matter how large or small, she will do it to the best of her ability.”
While the offense has the potential to put up respectable numbers this year, the Lady Mavs will be a defensive-oriented team.
Poe believes that will be out of necessity due to only having seven high school players.
“We’re going to run a bunch of different defenses this year because it is hard to run man-to-man the whole game when you only have seven high school players,” Poe said. “We’ll be more focused with controlling the clock this year. We’ll be focusing on a bunch of different defensive sets.”
The Lady Mavericks will rely on a number of junior high girls this year, which will make managing minutes difficult for Poe, who coaches both teams.
“It’s a struggle coaching both teams because I worry about my high school team getting in foul trouble,” Poe said. “We have some girls that are going to get tired. In the back of my mind, I wonder how I’m going to manage the minutes in junior high to make sure some can play both games.”
The season for the Lady Mavericks, according to Poe, will be defined by how well they can cope with having such few numbers.
“It’s going to be a long year with only seven high school players, but we’re going to fight through,” Poe said. “They have a lot of heart and a lot of want to. We have talent, but we just don’t have the numbers. I feel sure that we will be somewhere near where we were last year. It just depends on how we can manage the clock. We may need a little basketball luck.”
The Lady Mavs will open up the season on November 7 at Washington School.
