By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After finishing last season strong at 14-8 the Sacred Heart girl’s basketball team is ready to get back on the floor in 2024-25, with a young but talented squad.
Carl Hines returns to lead the Lady Knights in his fourth season as head coach in Salina.
This year’s starting five should feature several familiar faces, as seniors Alyssa Patterson and Bethany Campa, juniors Skylar Douglas and Nicole Richards, and sophomore Adelyn Lee round out the lineup.
Off the bench, the Lady Knights will look for a spark from junior Holly Bonilla and a trio of sophomores in Edyn Sharpton, Mia Hamilton and Eli Campa.
We had an opportunity to sit down and speak with Coach Hines ahead of what should be an exciting 2024-25 campaign.
Q: How do you feel about the state of the program after a strong finish last season?
A: “Our program is in pretty good shape, we do a lot of off-the-court things, and I feel more relaxed this year than I have because this program is finally mine from top to bottom. We’re mentally tough, we’re smaller, but we’re faster on the perimeter, and I feel like we’re headed in the right direction overall.”
Q: What do you feel like the biggest strengths of this team going into the new year?
A: “We have really good ball handling and I think that’s a big strength. I also believe our on-court leadership will improve tremendously as the season goes on. We’re awfully young but that will be a huge positive for us moving forward.”
Q: What question marks do you still have with this team ahead of your first couple of matchups?
A: “We have to see how well we rebound the basketball. We’ll look at that and how well we guard because defense travels. Those are the two biggest question marks I have.”
Q: What goals or expectations has this team laid out for itself going into this season?
A: “We don’t expect anyone to be perfect but we want to get tremendous effort from our team. Winning the league is always the first goal that we come into the year with. There are a lot of great teams and coaches in our league and it’s tough but that’s big for us. We also want to be playing our best basketball at the end of February and make a run into state.”
The Lady Knights will open the season in Salina as they play host to Clifton-Clyde this Friday.
Live stream video with broadcast audio for all Sacred Heart basketball games can be found all season on Salina Post.