Ramos ‘excited’ about inexperienced Lady Wolverines

Despite having to replace five starters and other experienced players Vian High School girls’ basketball coach Tina Ramos is ‘excited’ about the upcoming season for the Lady Wolverines.

“We’re excited about this group,” Ramos said. “I know we’re going to be inexperienced, that’s a given because they didn’t get to play a whole lot but what they’re picking up and the pace that they’re picking it up I think it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be fun to watch them progress over the season.

“Our expectations are for us to try to absorb as much as we can in our practices. Of course we’re very youthful this year on our squad. We only have one senior and one junior. The bulk of our team is sophomores after having graduated all five starters last year. Inexperience I would say would be our weakness but our strength is going to be that they’re pretty athletic and they catch on really fast. They’re very coachable and they come in and work hard every day in practice. I expect that we’ll get better and better throughout the season.

“This group of girls is awesome. Attitudes are great. Nothing but positivity with this group that we have right now and they’re just eager to learn. For coach (Athena) McCoy and I that makes it more fun because we’re trying to pass on the knowledge and with them being sponges that makes it that much more fun for us too.”

The Lady Wolverines were 12-13 last season and finished fourth in the Mansfield, Ark., and Sequoyah County tournaments and fifth in the Pottawatomie County Tournament held at North Rock Creek High School near Shawnee.

In the postseason Vian lost to No. 12 Oktaha in its district tournament before defeating Chouteau- Mazie and Liberty in its first two regional consolation games. A loss to Morrison in the regional consolation final ended the Lady Wolverines’ season.

Assistant Coach

Athena McCoy is starting her second season as the Lady Wolverines’ assistant coach.

Team Leadership

“I would consider our leader to probably be Maci (Smith),” Ramos said. “She’s probably the one out of everyone who has more court experience than all the rest of them. I would consider Maci a leader. She can be vocal at times, she leads by example, she always works hard, she’s dependable, responsible, she’s always here and she’s always picking the kids up. If someone’s not having a great outing in practice that day, she’s one of the first ones to say, ‘hey, you’ve got this.’ In that manner she is really doing a good job at stepping up and encouraging the younger kids while they’re still kind of feeling their way and figuring things out. She’s been a real positive.” Senior

The Lady Wolverines only senior this season is forward Maci Smith.

“Maci gives us a double- sided weapon kind of,” said Ramos. “She can play in the post or she can run the guard position. For the most part she’s probably going to play guard but at any point in time we can flash her in there and she can post up as well as anybody else. That makes her a little more dangerous on the offensive end and on the defensive end with her being long and tall that also gives us that extra rebounding or deflections or steals or what have you. When she’s on the court she definitely offers us something in the aspect of being able to score or defending.”

Junior

Vian’s lone junior is forward Skyelar Locust. “Skyelar has really im- proved her skills of being able to get to the basket and she has also improved her outside shooting,” Ramos remarked. “So she also offers us a lot on the offensive end of being able to get to the hole whenever we need her to or whenever it presents itself. At the same time she’s a threat from outside because her shooting has improved tremendously and I expect big things from her on that. Defense has kind of always been her strong suit but this year on the offensive end she’s really, really come along.”

The Lady Wolverines’ sophomores are guards Kala Gibbins and Rebel Simon, forward Avery Wright and guards Annie Neal, Kalli Kennedy and Jaden Frazier.

“Kala Gibbins is going to run the point guard position for us,” said Ramos. “Kala gives us a lot of energy on both ends, offensive and defensive, and her court vision has improved so much of knowing what to look for when we’re on the break, knowing what to look for within the offense and even knowing what to do reading her defender. So I expect that she’ll do a good job because she takes care of the ball really well, she makes really good decisions and she’s not a selfish player by any means. I would definitely give her a thumbs up on how much she has improved from last year to this year.

“Rebel’s shooting has improved tremendously from last year to this year. Rebel offers us a lot defensive-wise with her frame too. She’s kind of got a frame like Maci Smith. She’s longarmed, long-legged and she gets a lot of deflections when we’re here in practice. It’s a nightmare for who ever it is that she’s guarding because she deflects a lot of passes or she just steals it outright. When she goes to the other end she can score her little two-point buckets or by flashing into the high post on a break or where ever it is that we need her to go but her outside shooting is something that’s she going to be able to offer to us that is going to be very, very much-needed.

“Avery did play a little bit too for us last year when she came off the bench. Avery showed flashes of being able to pretty much dominate on the floor. She has gotten so much better at reading the defender and doing her footwork early to get open in the post, whether it’s at the high post or the low post. She gives us strength with being able to hold her ground while she’s on the block. She doesn’t mind putting the ball on the floor. She can dribble. Whatever it is that we need Avery to do she can do. I’m going to put her in the realm of Maci because if she gets a rebound she can dribble it all the way down herself. Avery is a big offensive threat for us because she can score from the outside too. Outside, inside, she can score anywhere on the court. “Annie, Kalli and Jaden have really improved too from last year. Their confidence, their ability to bring the ball down the floor and their ability to see the floor has improved. Those kids are guards so it has been a must for them to be able to handle the ball better and be able to see who’s open and with them having gotten better at that that makes it that much easier for us when it comes time to have to sub in the game. So we can throw one of those kids in there and still be where we need to be.

“We have some kids that are on our second group that can come in and fill spots and do a lot of good things too. That’s a real positive for us. Practice is challenging everyday. There’s not a big gap in between the talent level of the first group and the second group so they’re pushing each other and that makes it a lot better for us.”

Freshmen

Vian’s freshmen are forward Halli Russell and posts Rayleigh Terrill and Kiah Richardson.

“Freshman-wise we have Kiah Richardson, she’s a post, Rayleigh Terrill, she’s a post and then Halli Russell, and she is kind of like Avery. She had to play post a lot in junior high but she shoots the ball really well so she can play multiple positions on the floor too and she’s about like Avery in that she’s not afraid to dribble it down and she can do that without any issues or problems. It will be easy to put those kids in because they offer something to the team too.”

Schedule

Howe has joined the Big 8 Conference and Vian has replaced the Pottawatomie County Tournament with the Kellyville Tournament this season. The Lady Wolverines will also play in the Mansfield, Ark., and Sequoyah County tournaments.

“I think our conference will be tough,” Ramos said. “For the most part a lot of the teams have been kind of on the young side, kind of what we’re about to go through now and so I expect those teams to be a little bit stronger than what they were even last year.

“You have teams like Westville, they have been fairly young, and they’ll be good or decent. You have teams like Oktaha and they are going to be tough because some of their better kids were their younger kids and then they just keep adding and adding and adding so I look for them to probably be one of the stronger teams in our conference, along with Howe. I know they’re going to be good too. I know Keys has a group of kids that work hard for their coach and so I expect for them to be pretty decent. I know Central was young last year and those kids have gained experience from last year. I know that they’re not going to be a pushover because I know a couple of those kids personally and I know that they’re tough and they don’t back down from a challenge.

“I expect for us though to go out there and try to be competitive. I know that we’re going to be young, we’re inexperienced to some degree but the girls are really catching on to stuff really fast. My expectation is that we’ll be where we want to be just maybe not as fast as we want to be but we’re getting there. I expect for us to go out and try to compete every night and we’ll see what happens at the end of that fourth quarter because these kids work their tails off. They’re diving for loose balls, I mean in practice diving for loose balls, and they get after it. They don’t back down from a challenge and they’re eager, eager to learn.”