Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:18 PM CST
Okaw Valley seniors ready to make a difference
By MIKE MONAHAN, Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
FINDLAY -- The five senior members of the Okaw Valley girls’ basketball team were eighth graders when the Lady Timberwolves had its last winning season, going 28-1 in 2004-05.
Since the seniors have been a part of the high school team Okaw Valley has had seasons of 4-22; 6-22 and 5-23.
“They are ready to make a difference,” said Okaw Valley coach Jim Underwood, who is in first year. “The juniors we have are ready to play and will push the seniors. We have good competition in practice.”
Okaw Valley splits practices between the high school, located in Bethany and the middle school, in Findlay.
The five seniors are Trish Berry, Jessica Brewer, Sam Inman, Lauren Snearly and Jessica Williams. All five are returning letter winners from last year’s team coached by Misi Jones.
Last year’s team of 16 had half of the team injured at one time or another, including Inman, a Journal Gazette/Times-Courier All-Area player as a sophomore (averaged 16.2 points and led the team in assists and free throw percentage, while finishing second in rebounds wit 5.1 per game). Inman was injured the third game of the year, tearing her anterior crucient ligament.
“I think we are going to be a pretty athletic team,” said Underwood, who was an assistant for three years under Jones. “Sam Inman, Lauren Snearly, Jessica Williams and Rachel Marshall are all pretty solid athletically.”
Although it is Underwood’s first year, he did help fill in for several games last year when Jones was on maternity leave. He also has previous experience as an assistant for the Okaw Valley boys’ team from 1992-93 through 2004-05 under Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame member Mike Reynolds and was also an assistant under another IBCA member in former Sullivan and Clinton coach Ted Turner. He was an assistant at Bethany under Brett Robinson, who is currently the Cerro Gordo superintendent. In addition he coached under current Sullivan coach Scott Bales.
Underwood said the five seniors as well as the three juniors in Rachel Marshall, Ariel Rothrock and Amanda Hyett should see extensive playing time.
“The upperclassmen should factor in quite a bit,” said Underwood. “We also have a sophomore that played quite a bit last year when she wasn’t injured in Jasmine Pierce.”
Brewer led the team in scoring last year with an averaged of 8.6 per game, while Marshall averaged 5.3; Snearly 4.5 and Berry 3.9 points per contest.
“I am not Misi (Jones) and I can’t be the same coach I was last year after she went on maternity leave,” said Underwood. “I would like to think anyone who has seen Okaw Valley play the last three years knows we are going to play buzzer to buzzer.”
Okaw Valley averaged 38.5 points per game and allowed 56.4 last year.
“We have been working on getting acclimated to each other,” said Underwood, who feels Arcola and Shiloh are the teams to beat in the conference. ” That is going to be very important. Last year we went a little deeper in the line up. With the number of kids we have out (14) and playing a junior varsity schedule I am going to have some tired legs.”
Okaw Valley is to lose Berry, who is graduating at the semester.
“I give her credit for playing,” said Underwood. “She is going to play in eight games and is one of our hardest workers.”
Inman is a four-year starter, who averaged 16.3 points per game before being injured. Snearly and Williams have been four year starters at one time or another and Berry is a two-year starter.
Defensively Underwood said, “We don’t have a great deal of height, all of it is in the younger classes. We are athletic and hopefully our effort pays off on defense.”
Gone from last year due to graduation are Brittny Arthur, Brittnay Herzog and Abie Dean. Herzog was an honorable mention all-conference selection.
Okaw Valley has a tough non-conference schedule and they are to play at Shelbyville Monday. The Lady Timberwolves also are to play Meridian and Cowden-Herrick before opening up Little Okaw Valley Conference play Dec. 15 against Heritage. This is also the first year Martinsville is in the LOVC.
“Once we get into conference play we will have seen four or five tough teams and that should pay off for us,” said Underwood. “Our goals are to come into the conference tournament as one of the top five teams. We were seeded 11th in the regional and conference last year and we want to be seeded in the top half. Those are all achievable goals.”
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