Lady Tigers picked to finish 7th in SIC 4A

There are a lot of new faces among the ranks of the Southern Idaho Conference 4A girls basketball teams.

In fact, of the eight teams (Skyview and Nampa move down from 5A), four have new coaches this year. With that posing a bit of an unknown, some of the coaches were hesitant to try and pick this year's finish, but, with seven of the eight coaches taking part in the voting, there appears to be a top half, and a bottom half of the conference.

Emmett tallied the most votes, followed closely by Skyview, Vallivue and Bishop Kelly.

Mountain Home was picked to finish seventh, right behind Kuna, with Caldwell picked last.

With a look at the voting, with eight points for a first place vote, seven for second, and so on, down to one point for eighth place, the results were as follows, with first place votes in parentheses:

1. Emmett (2) 51

2. Skyview (3) 48

3. Vallivue (2) 43

4. Bishop Kelly 39

5. Nampa 24

6. Kuna 19

7. Mountain Home 18

8. Caldwell 10

EMMETT LADY HUSKIES

The Emmett Lady Huskies are coming off a 12-13 overall mark last year in Cheryl Hutchinson's first year as head coach of the Lady Huskies.

Hutchinson has seven returning from last year's squad, including 5' 9" junior Jackie Hovda, 5' 10" junior Megan Rolland, 5' 9" sophomore Teianna Mabe, 6' 0" senior Jordan Rienstra, 5' 7" senior Jayne Saunders, and 5' 10" seniors Heather Roach and Kayla Kaiser. Hutchinson also has 5' 7" senior transfer Brittany Anderson, who played at Vallivue last year.

Hutchinson likes the experience, athletic ability and quickness this year's Lady Huskies squad has, and hopes those qualities can take them far.

"If we are doing what we are capable of, we should be tough to beat."

SKYVIEW LADY HAWKS

The Skyview Hawks have moved back down to the 4A ranks, after being at 5A the last couple years. Cindy Pasta is in her ninth year as head coach of the Lady Hawks, who are coming off an 11-9 record last year.

Although her numbers are down a bit from last year, they will be among those in the conference that will be fielding a sophomore squad this year.

Coach Pasta has seven varsity players returning from last year. They include Cammy Dranginis, Tori Eagans, Cassie Smith, Kandice Owsley, Kendall Brenton, Jennie Rudder and Paula Hellwege.

"We hope to play competitively at every game, to consistently improve, and, hopefully, make it to state," said Pasta. "I'm anxious to see what this league is all about again!"

VALLIVUE LADY FALCONS

Stu Sells moves up from coaching the JV squad to take over as head coach of the Lady Falcons.

Gone are the seniors from last year, led by Jenny Gross, that finished 20-4 overall and second at the State 4A Tourney, but Coach Sells likes the looks of this year's squad. Four seniors, five juniors and a sophomore make up this year's Lady Falcon team, which features three returing starters.

The three returnees from last year include 5' 9" senior Kylee Benke, 5' 10" senior Hilari Christensen, and 5' 9" junior guard Whitney Owen. The sophomore on the varsity is 6' 0" Stacie Gross, younger sister of Jenny Gross.

Sells likes the senior leadership he has on this year's squad, and the depth he has on the team, and sees defense as a strength as well.

"We don't have any standout super stars like we did last year, so each one of our players are going to have a little bit more responsibility, a little but more ownership. They're all taking initiative on their own, and I like the team concept they have. They all have a roll, and they work real hard to compliment each other."

Sells sees this year's conference as strong, and regardless of records, the old cliche` of, " on any given night" applies to this year's conference season.

"It's a good, strong conference, and you've got to come ready to play each and every game or you'll be in trouble."

BISHOP KELLY LADY KNIGHTS

Chuck Tacke moves over from the Bishop Kelly boys basketball program to coach the Lady Knights this year. He indicated turnout was near 45, enough to field teams at the varsity, JV, sophomore and freshmen levels.

He has six returnees back from last year's squad. They include seniors Anna Schumacher (5' 8"), Elise Whiteside (6' 0"), Yesenia Hernandez (5' 7"), Marie Vermaas (5' 7"), Katy Brinegar (5 '9"), and 5' 7" junior Lindsay Brady.

Tacke likes the experience, shooting ability, speed and height he has on this year's Lady Knight squad.

"All we need is a confident coach," Tacke said with a chuckle. "We're looking for one."

How well the Lady Knights do this year Tacke believes depends on how quick they learn the new system.

"They've had three new coaches in four years, so that's something they have needed to overcome to see how fast they can learn another new system -- providing the system's a good one -- that's the wild card."

NAMPA LADY BULLDOGS

Cameron Long takes over the Nampa girls basketball program after John Gregory moved up to the Athletic Director position. Long is pleased with the turnout, and likes the numbers he has coming back this year.

Long has some good height in 6' 0" senior posts Amanda Vink and Kara Myers, and also has 5' 6" wing Angela Kraft, 5' 2" junior guard Jenica Cotterell, and 5' 10" junior wing Samantha Anderson.

"We should have good post play and good outside shooting," said Coach Long. "The key is learning the new system. I expect we'll start slow, but pick it up towards the end of the year."

KUNA LADY KAVEMEN

Kelly Emry's Lady Kavmen finished 7-18 overall last year, but came on strong at the end of the season, and took third at the district tourney, losing a play-in game that would have put them in the 4A state tourney.

Kuna is among those in the 4A SIC that will not be having a sophomore squad, but Emry indicates they do have both an "A" and "B" freshmen team.

Emry has five girls returning from last year. They include 5' 4" senior point guard Whitney Withrow, 5' 10" senior post Kendra Long, 5' 11" wing Maren Ericson, 5' 9" senior post Jessica Porter, and 5' 6" junior wing Aubrey Music.

Emry likes the senior leadership, team chemistry, outside shooting and quickness this year's squad should have, but indicated he will be playing four sophmores at times.

"We just need to survive the 5A schedule and learn, be competitive during the regular season,and then be a 'dark horse' in the district tourney," said Coach Emery.

MOUNTAIN HOME LADY TIGERS

Karen Kohring hopes the third time is the charm, as the saying goes, as she enters her third season as head coach of the Lady Tigers. With just two returners back from last year, she looks to build off the success of the junior varsity and sophomore teams of the past couple years.

The two returning are 5' 6" junior guard Erica Stanton, and 5' 5" senior guard Michelle Reynolds, both splitting some time last year between the JV and varsity.

Kohring likes the guard quickness and anticipation, and, "a certain comfort level for our offense as it continues to be built from the seventh grade up," but knows they will have a lot of bugs to work out early with the lack of varsity experience.

"We have had a power outage, of sorts, the past few years," said Kohring, "but we will continue to develop fundamentals and encourage team concepts enabling us to be competitive at the 4A level."

CALDWELL LADY COUGARS

Jon Nettleton takes over the Caldwell girls basketball program this year, and likes the turnout he has seen for Lady Cougar basketball this season, which includes 24 freshmen, a sophomore team for the first time in years, and 22 on the junior varsity and varsity rosters.

Nettleton takes over a program that has just three returning from a squad that went 4-18 last season. He will build his team around 5' 8" senior guard Amanda McEldowney, 5' 8" junior guard Melissas Rowe, and 5' 6" junior guard Anneka Ruzicka.

Nettleton hopes to build on a good work ethic and team defense which he hopes to eventually turn the program around.

"We are a team that will work hard and will improve with each game," he said.