By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Following another campaign that saw them raise their win total from the year before (12-10), the Sacred Heart girl’s basketball team will look to take another step forward ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Carl Hines returns to the helm for the Lady Knights, entering his third season as head coach in Salina.
The Sacred Heart faithful will be treated to a slew of familiar faces this year as the Knights bring back a starting lineup that should look like this come tip-off.
G- Katie Weiss (Sr)
G- Sydney Goetz (Sr)
G- Skylar Douglas (So)
F- Avery Eshelman (Sr)
F- Maegan Torrey (Sr)
The Lady Knights will also look for big minutes out of a deep rotation that features Nicole Richards, Bethany Campa, Alyssa Patterson, Adelyn Lee, Holly Bonilla, Mia Hamilton, Eli Campa, Edyn Sharpton, and Rosie Torres
Ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, we had a chance to catch up with Coach Hines and get his thoughts on this year’s squad.
Q: When you had a chance to look back on it, what were your overall thoughts on last season?
A: We played a tough schedule in December and last year it showed in how we started. Having said that, we made a ton of progress in how we wanted to approach and play the game as the year went on. We finished last year a very different team and made a lot of gains.
Q: Entering this year, what would you say are the biggest known strengths of your team?
A: We should be able to start this year playing the way we finished last year. Our opponents will know that our three returning starters can all score the basketball.
Q: What are the biggest looming questions or challenges that you’ll look to sort out in these first few weeks?
A: I want to see how this team faces adversity. We do not have a home game in December, and we’ll find out just how resilient we can be.
Q: What are the biggest goals and expectations for this group heading into the new season?
A: Our league is very tough from top to bottom but our number one goal is to compete for a league title.
The Lady Knights open their season on the road at Clifton Clyde against the Eagles this Friday.