Sophomores Look To Bolster Rogers Heritage

LADY WAR EAGLES SEEK FIRST CONFERENCE WIN

Rogers Heritage guard Yalile Johnson, right looks for passing room from the corner while guarded by Bentonville’s Emily Spencer during a game on Feb. 23 in Bentonville.
Rogers Heritage guard Yalile Johnson, right looks for passing room from the corner while guarded by Bentonville’s Emily Spencer during a game on Feb. 23 in Bentonville.

— Rogers Heritage girls basketball coach Kevin Ramey has trouble containing his excitement about this year’s Lady War Eagles team.

The Lady War Eagles, who have not won a 7A-West Conference game in their young history, are coming off a 0-27 season, but Ramey said he has a good mixture of returners to go with a talented group of sophomores.

“I really like our team,” Ramey said. “Number one, they don’t shy away from competition. It just doesn’t bother them. Number two, we’ve played, oh, right at 35 or 36 games this summer and we saw all sorts of diff erent things. They’ll respond. A team being physical with them doesn’t really bother them.”

Heritage returns two starters in senior Yalile Johnson and junior Lindsey Wood. But they also get 5-foot-9 senior Maddie Weller back, who missed all of last season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament. All three bring certain key elements to the team.

“Yalile’s been a two-year starter for us and coming out of the summer she’s playing her best basketball,” Ramey said. “I’m really excited about some of the things she can do for us and the growth she’s made. Lindsey continues to be our best defensive player. As a perimeter defender, she’s just so sound.

“Maddie’s a player who as a sophomore started 26 games for us,” Ramey added. “She’s been throughthe fire and knows what our conference is all about. She’ll give us size inside and she’s deceptively quick side to side.”

Now add four talented sophomores to that rotation and Ramey really has reason for excitement.

Twin sisters Brittany and Ashley Ward should make an instant impact, while 5-9 Lacey Murray and 5-8 Katie Borman should also make big contributions.

“We’re so young, we know we’ll have some peaks and valleys,” Ramey said. “We’ll go through some of the learning curve. We now it’s not going to be pretty all the time. We’re counting on some sophomores to play big minutes and that’s part of it as they learn.”

The sophomore’s combination of enthusiasm and grit give Ramey a feeling of hope for the future of the program.

“We’re certainly excited about where we’re going,” Ramey said. “Lacey Murray can really shoot the basketball and gives us an opportunity to stretch the defense. Ashley and Yalile can slice and get to the rim as good as anybody.Brittany’s slowly emerged out of that sophomore shell and taken some ownership, directing traft c and growing into more of the leader we think she’ll be.”

The group should allow Ramey to extend his defense and put more pressure on the opposition all over the court, leading to a few more transition scoring chances.

Those chances were few a year ago when the Lady War Eagles averaged just a shade under 25 points per game. The team has also hit the weights in the offseason in hopes of competing more in the physical 7A-West, Ramey said.

“I felt like we got pushed around last year,” Ramey said. “You just have to be tough and focus on the task at hand.”

Heritage hosts Elkins in a benefit game on Nov. 9, then opens the season against Class 4A Gentry on Nov. 19 in War Eagle Arena.

Sports, Pages 9 on 10/31/2010

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