Simeroth sees improvement from her Lady Pirates

Gore girls’ head coach Staci Simeroth has seen improvement in several areas from her Lady Pirates during the preseason and she believes her Gore squad will be improved this season.

“Outlook-wise I think we’re fundamentally better than we were last year,” said Simeroth, who is beginning her second season leading the Lady Pirates. “I think I come in with a group of girls that are really coming and playing and giving everything that they have. I also believe that this group of girls is more determined, they’re more seasoned and you’ll definitely see a different group of girls. Same group but different mindset, different attitudes. I’ve got a move-in, I’ve had two injuries that are season-ending so we’ve kind of had to move a couple of people around.

“Defensive-wise I think we are better at communicating and understanding each other and being on the same page. I’ve noticed that even through summer and even at the scrimmage against Vian. Defensive-wise we were great and offensively we just kept kind of rushing and rushing and rushing. Once we slowed down we had open shots and open layups. Not being patient was our biggest downfall.

“This year the girls’ mindset is we’ve got to be winners. For us to win games we’ve got to come out thinking ‘I’m a winner.’ And the confidence that those girls carry now is different, totally different, and I absolutely love it. I love the drive that they have everyday in practice.

“I think we’ll grow even more as each game comes and even in practices and scrimmages we grow each day.”

The Lady Pirates were 3-17 last season and finished sixth in the Porum Invitational Tournament. Gore topped Arkoma in its opening district game but losses to Keota (district championship) and Canadian (regional consolation quarterfinals) ended its season.

Assistant Coach

April Smith will assist Simeroth this season.

“With my assistant coach being a post when she played that’s helped tremendously by just keeping those girls in tune of where to put the ball and what to do when you get in this position,” Simeroth said.

Team Leadership

“I think overall we’re better even from freshmen to seniors but these three seniors this year are really stepping up,” Simeroth said. “They’re really trying to help control the floor and helping my freshmen and sophomores that are still kind of figuring things out. Last year we won three games and still ended up in districts. Each game we’ve got to grow and this year’s seniors’ mindset is ‘we’re coming,’ and that helps a lot when they see the floor, they understand what the game is about and they are finally getting pieces put together.”

Seniors

Gore’s seniors are point guard Lindsey Pierce (5-4), post Aspyn Cearley (5-10) and center Kima Wells (5-9). Cearley is a returning starter and Wells was a parttime starter last season.

“Lindsey Pierce is a move-in from Webbers Falls and she’ll be my starting point guard,” said Simeroth. “She’s a really good point guard and she’s very good about reading the ball and talking on defense and helping her other teammates and that helps a lot when you’ve got somebody that’s seasoned enough that they understand that. She can flatout pass the ball really well too.

“Aspyn Cearley is really tall and slender and she gets rebounds out of nowhere sometimes. She has gotten better from last year. She’ll jump (tipoff) for me, she’ll start and she’ll be one of those that come out of nowhere.

“Kima Wells will do a lot of justice for me this year. I think that she’s come out mindset-ready. Last year we were still kind of nervous, still kind of scared but in our first scrimmage she came out firing. She was like, ‘coach, I’m ready.’ Her aggression is going to be on-point.”

Juniors

The Lady Pirates’ juniors are shooting guard Oaklei Thornton (5-5), forward Tristen Colbert (5-5), center Andi Summerlin (5-10), forward Natalie Casteel (5-6) and forward Paige Curran (5-8).

“Andi Summerlin will come out and have a lot of minutes,” Simeroth said. “She has gotten a lot better about squaring up and taking control and not losing the ball when she makes a post move. She has gotten a lot stronger and it shows. She makes points that she would never have made last year so she’ll have a lot of minutes Her and Kima are powerhouses underneath the goal.

“Oaklei, Natalie and Tristen have grown so much in the last year of just understanding

Gore’s Aspyn Cearley drives to the basket during a high school basketball home game last season. Cearley is one of the Lady Pirates’ three seniors this season.

LEA LESSLEY | TIMES the ball game and getting where they need to be and really fighting for that starting position that you could probably put any three of those in and you wouldn’t see a difference. That’s my goal this year, that when we sub you won’t see a difference. Natalie will play some guard for me. That will help. She’s got a real nice 3, so hopefully there’ll be times that we can throw her in and she’ll hit a couple of 3’s for us, and Oaklei the same. They’ve gotten better shooting-wise.

“Paige Curran had a knee injury and tore her ACL so she is out for the season. It’s sickening and my heart breaks for her. She will do anything you ask.”

Gore’s sophomores are point guard Ricki Huckbay (5-3), guard Dawa Reece (5-4), guard/forward Lilly Wooten (5-3) and forward Kailey Mannon (5-8).

“Ricki Huckbay was my starting point guard last year and she tore her ACL just two months ago,” said Simeroth. “I expect her to come back power-housing in the summer but she won’t get to play this year.

“Dawa Reece will play. She had an injury the second game in of last year and didn’t get to play at all with a hip injury. So she’s coming back and kind of getting back in the groove of things.

“Lilly Wooten kind of juggles between a guard and a forward.

“Kailey Mannon will be a forward and she’s tall and lanky. She didn’t play for me last year.”

Freshmen

The Lady Pirates’ freshmen are point guard Emily Daily (5-3), guard Rayleigh Moore (5-4), post Kennedy Williams (5-9), guards Amelia White (55) and Gracie Bruce (5-5) and post Lilly Summerlin (5-7).

“Emily Daily will get some playing time,” Simeroth remarked. “Really aggressive on defense and really getting it together on offense. I started her at point some this summer to kind of give her just a feel of it. She didn’t do badly. Kind of scared coming out but she always gave me 110 percent. She’ll do me some justice this year and I think she’ll do real good.

“Rayleigh Moore will have playing time as well. I think that she’ll come out power-housing. Her sister (Kaydance) played for me last year. Phenomenal kid to be able to coach.

“Kennedy Williams will be a center. She’ll probably start as a post first and then move in. The kid can rebound like no other as a freshman. I expect her to have quite a few minutes as well and I think that she will do really good. This summer going up against kids that were a lot older than her she held her own as a post. So I’m really excited to see how she blossoms.

“Amelia White will be pretty good after kind of understanding high school ball and the little quicker and faster fundamentals but she won’t be bad.

“If Gracie Bruce keeps growing she’ll probably be a forward. She’s kind of the same in that mixture of understanding high school ball and knowing that it’s a little quicker game and the ball’s coming a lot faster and a lot moving a lot quicker.

“Lilly Summerlin will be a post and kind of the same thing as the other two, learning and getting the fundamentals and understanding everything.”

Schedule

Dewar and Panama are new non-conference opponents on Gore’s schedule this season.

“We have added Dewar and Panama,” Simeroth said. “Dewar is away and Panama is here. They’re winnable if we show up and do our jobs and not get nervous.”

Gore remains a member of the Riverside Athletic Conference.

“It will be a tough conference, said Simeroth said. “Each team has lost some, we’ve gained some and we’ve kind of had to evaluate our playing and how we’re going to attack and do our jobs.

“Porum lost their big and Gans lost their big so we’re all having to evaluate and I’m starting with a new point guard and kind of reevaluating my side so it will be interesting and I’m real excited because I think this group of girls can very much win it, if we do our jobs correctly “Keota will be really good this year. They’ll have the sisters, both of them. Their big girl was such a good post last year and they’ll have the guard back, which is her sister, and she came back from a knee injury. So that will be a fight-to-the finish game and we play there this year.

“Arkoma won’t be bad. Overall we should dominate that game with the girls that I have but you never know if they’ve changed, if they’ve had move-ins or if they have girls that have been there that step up.

“McCurtain was good last year but they graduated three or four that were pretty good players. Okay won’t be bad. They’ll be pretty decent this year.

“Webbers Falls graduated Samantha Shanks, who is now playing at Connors, and some other seniors. Coach (Jordan) Garner’s daughter is back and she’s pretty good. She’s not bad at all.”

“We are in the Sequoyah County Tournament and the Porum Tournament again this season.”

Because of the Pirates’ playoff run in football Gore’s first two scheduled basketball games (Nov. 29 vs. Porum and Dec. 2 vs. McCurtain) have been rescheduled.