By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After finishing the 2019-2020 season with a record of 14-8, the Sacred Heart girls basketball team is ready to make another run in 202o-2021.
Keenan Thompson returns for his second season as head coach of the Lady Knights basketball team.
When the Knights square off against the Cardinals of Ell-Saline on Friday, their starting five will look something like this.
PG: Ellie Woodall (Jr, 5-11)
SG: Ella Gotti (Sr, 5-9, made 29 3-pointers last season)
G/F: Teghan Slagle/Evy Mendez (Srs, 5-10/5-11)
F: Kelsie Gack (Sr, 5-11)
C: Emilee Everett (Sr, 5-10)
Big contributions are also expected from Madisyn Ehrlich, Kiera Cochran and Tessa Junk, with a few Freshmen reinforcements looking to make an impact as well.
We sat down with coach Thompson to ask him some questions ahead of the 2020-2021 season.
Q: What have been some of the things you have done to turn the culture of girls basketball at Sacred Heart around?
A: Off the court we’ve done a lot to bring the team together and make it more of a family. If you don’t like the people you play with you’re not going to play very hard so we’ve really focused on being not just a team but a family. On the court we’ve really been trying to put an emphasis on playing hard, it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you’re playing at 100%. I’m a lot more worried about team effort than I am about secret plays or big time sets.
What were your thoughts coming out of last season?
I was a happy man at the end of last season, you hate to lose in the second round of sub-state but at that point we had accomplished almost all of our goals that we set before the season and the girls as individuals had grown as players and as young ladies throughout the year. On paper it was the most successful season that this program has had since 2010.
What are your expectations for this team heading into this year?
We lost roughly 70-75% of our scoring from last season, so our expectations this year will all be heavily on the defensive side. As a whole our expectation is to end no lower than we did last year and the way we’re going to achieve that is with our defensive play.
What would you say is your biggest strength and your biggest weakness heading into the year?
Our biggest strength and our biggest weakness are both the same this year and it’s experience. Of our top six girls most of them are already battle hardened and have seen some postseason success, they’re ready to go. However, we are going to be relying on some younger girls that don’t have a second of varsity experience yet. If we can get big minutes from our older girls we’ll be able to get away with some mistakes and growing pains that might come with our younger girls.
Who are one or two girls that Sacred Heart fans should really keep an eye on this season?
Emilee Everett, I have high hopes for her, she should really emerge as a dominant five. Ellie Woodall hasn’t had a lot of minutes but she’s competitive, explosive and exciting to watch, and if Ella Gotti gets hot like she did last season she’s electric to watch.
Sacred Heart will tip off their season against the Ell-Saline Cardinals at 6pm on Friday at Sacred Heart High School.