Numbers are not Bucks’ concern
Girls squad will make the most out of the minimum
Buckeye’s girls basketball team will look to make up for what it lacks in numbers with effort. Photo courtesy of LIFETOUCH PHOTOGRAPHY
Sometimes less is more. At least that’s the prevailing hope around Buckeye’s girls basketball team this winter.
The Bucks are banking on getting a lot out of a little this season. While their roster officially includes a few more, they are running with six players.
Numbers or not, Bucks coach Ron Clady plans for the most part on picking up where his team left off a year ago, when it finished 15-8 overall, 13-3 in the Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division. The Bucks won 8-of-9 down the stretch
They lost a lot of good and productive players to graduation, including Olivia Hartley, Kaitlyn Hubeny, Maddie Smith and Tori Avallone. Elizabeth Whetstone, a junior, is out of the country on an educational experience. Junior Shannon Galdun, who would have added to a strong frontcourt, did not come back.
“Numbers for the older girls coming out were small, so that was an issue,” Clady said. “So that was an issue. Then we lost a junior to Brazil, so technically we lost five. We have a lot of freshmen playing on the JV team. We’ll swing three or four of them to fill the bench.”
Senior guard Madi Sanchez will be a lonesome figure at the beginning of games. The Bucks’ sixth-player, Sanchez will be the only one on the bench. At least of those likely to play a lot.
Like Clady said, others will be there. What they will do remains to be seen.
Sanchez also is the only senior in the bunch. So this team is not a one-year experiment. If everyone can come back next year and the younger players can develop, the Bucks should be able to expand the playbook next season.
For now, though, some things are out of the question. You won’t see the Bucks playing a lot of up-tempo or much full-court basketball of any type. At least not right away.
“We have two types of basketball we can play,” Clady said. “We have our first-team group that will do things I feel we’re good at and then once we get our younger bunch in, we’re going to end up playing in a different way.”
Junior guards Gabby Glancy and Tatum Widenmeyer are joined in the lineup by sophomore posts Madison Ross and Grace Allen, and freshman post Sydney Bell.
Glancy, a second-team All-PAC guard last season, is a proven producer. Last year she piled up about 8 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals per game. She’s a good perimeter shooter and should get some looks, with the Bucks being pretty strong inside. Widenmeyer gives Buckeye some size in the backcourt.
Allen had a terrific freshman season, averaging just shy of a double-double in points and rebounds.
Eventually Clady will be able to pluck some players from a freshman class that compiled an 18-1 record and won a PAC championship in 2016-17. In the meantime, Buckeye may face a lot of teams looking to take advantage of the Bucks’ lack of depth.
“I could definitely see teams thinking that us having a low number is a way for them to run us off the court,” Clady said. “But we’re in good shape. We do a lot of running. I really believe our younger kids will come in and give us solid minutes and do good things.
“We have good pieces. We just have to make sure we bring in kids who will not make turnovers and not get us into foul trouble.”
The Bucks are banking on getting a lot out of a little this season. While their roster officially includes a few more, they are running with six players.
Numbers or not, Bucks coach Ron Clady plans for the most part on picking up where his team left off a year ago, when it finished 15-8 overall, 13-3 in the Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division. The Bucks won 8-of-9 down the stretch
They lost a lot of good and productive players to graduation, including Olivia Hartley, Kaitlyn Hubeny, Maddie Smith and Tori Avallone. Elizabeth Whetstone, a junior, is out of the country on an educational experience. Junior Shannon Galdun, who would have added to a strong frontcourt, did not come back.
“Numbers for the older girls coming out were small, so that was an issue,” Clady said. “So that was an issue. Then we lost a junior to Brazil, so technically we lost five. We have a lot of freshmen playing on the JV team. We’ll swing three or four of them to fill the bench.”
Senior guard Madi Sanchez will be a lonesome figure at the beginning of games. The Bucks’ sixth-player, Sanchez will be the only one on the bench. At least of those likely to play a lot.
Like Clady said, others will be there. What they will do remains to be seen.
Sanchez also is the only senior in the bunch. So this team is not a one-year experiment. If everyone can come back next year and the younger players can develop, the Bucks should be able to expand the playbook next season.
For now, though, some things are out of the question. You won’t see the Bucks playing a lot of up-tempo or much full-court basketball of any type. At least not right away.
“We have two types of basketball we can play,” Clady said. “We have our first-team group that will do things I feel we’re good at and then once we get our younger bunch in, we’re going to end up playing in a different way.”
Junior guards Gabby Glancy and Tatum Widenmeyer are joined in the lineup by sophomore posts Madison Ross and Grace Allen, and freshman post Sydney Bell.
Glancy, a second-team All-PAC guard last season, is a proven producer. Last year she piled up about 8 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals per game. She’s a good perimeter shooter and should get some looks, with the Bucks being pretty strong inside. Widenmeyer gives Buckeye some size in the backcourt.
Allen had a terrific freshman season, averaging just shy of a double-double in points and rebounds.
Eventually Clady will be able to pluck some players from a freshman class that compiled an 18-1 record and won a PAC championship in 2016-17. In the meantime, Buckeye may face a lot of teams looking to take advantage of the Bucks’ lack of depth.
“I could definitely see teams thinking that us having a low number is a way for them to run us off the court,” Clady said. “But we’re in good shape. We do a lot of running. I really believe our younger kids will come in and give us solid minutes and do good things.
“We have good pieces. We just have to make sure we bring in kids who will not make turnovers and not get us into foul trouble.”
