The Rider girls basketball team heads into the Thanksgiving break this Friday against Newman Smith with a 3-1 record after kicking off the season beating Hirschi, Iowa Park and Wichita Falls High School while losing to Everman.
The Rider Chronicle spoke with head coach Todd Chamberlain about the team’s goals for the final year of Lady Raider basketball.
Q: How do you feel about your team going into the new season?
A: I feel good, we have a lot of returners, we have players that were freshmen but are now sophomores with a year under their belt. We have some strong upperclassmen as well. We have a mix of youth and experience, and I think we’re more athletic than we were last year. I think we’re ahead of where we were a year ago in terms of the season right now. I think we’ll definitely have a much more successful season this year.
Q: What are your expectations for this season?
A: Our goal is to be fighting for a playoff spot by the time we get to district. There are seven teams, four make it to the playoffs so three won’t. I feel like we have taken the steps to do what we need to do to get there.
Q: Who are the players you expect to play a key role?
A: We have two returning posts who played a lot of minutes last year in Tay Parks and Kya Thomas-Carroll. They both do a great job. We’ve got some guards who began as freshmen last year, Olivia Vanderburg and Addi Williams. They’re playing a key role for us again. Harley Henderson was a sophomore last year that moved in, she’s going to do great. We’ve got great senior leadership with Marissa Davilia and Sophia Curry. We’ve got some newcomers to the varsity – Lynsley Tidwell moved in back to the district, then we’ve got Jayde Fettkether came in from Henrietta, she’s a great leader and a positive force on the team. Sophomores Tori Beard and Madi Goodner are two girls that played JV last year that got a lot of experience along with Georgia Bindel. I have a freshman who will play some minutes for varsity, Mariah Jackson. I just feel like it’s going to be hard to pinpoint a specific player because it’s going to have to be a team effort.
Q: What are your biggest obstacles this year?
A: Last year we struggled to score some despite our defense being pretty solid. One of the things we’ve tried to really improve on this year is our offense. I still think we’re going to be good defensively, but I think offensively we’re going to be able to really challenge in district. I think the mixture of young and old together will help, just throwing them in one big pot. The girls have done a great job coming together and working together and forming relationships with each other to trust each other on the court.
Q: What games and tournaments are you looking forward to?
A: At the end of November and the start of December we go to the Breckenridge Tournament, that’s a fun time to get away. We’ve got a lot of home games in November, but then in December we don’t have any at all so it’s kind of a rough stretch for us. Than we start district the second week of December. After Christmas we go to the Weatherford Tournament for two days, so that’s a fun time for us. We’re trying to take each game as a step to get ready for district.
Q: How do you hope for improvement for the team this year?
A: We’re trying to take a big step forward from where we were last year. We only had a couple of seniors that we lost that played a lot, and we’re replacing them with young kids who are really ready to take that step. We feel like if we’re not competing for a district playoff spot, we haven’t met the goals we’ve hoped to. So our goal is to find a way into the playoffs.
Q: How is the team feeling about the last year of Rider basketball?
A: We don’t know what’s going to happen next year, who’s going to end up where, or if I’ll even be coaching there, there’s a lot of unknowns. I’ve told the girls we’re just going to take this year and only worry about this year. We’re not going to look ahead, we’re just going to treat this year like it’s its own separate thing. Of course, it’s the last year of Rider basketball so we want to make it a memorable one.
