Fishers junior Caroline Kirkendall gets ready to shoot the ball during the Tigers’ scrimmage with McCutcheon Wednesday. (Richie Hall)
Coachable and long Tigers start season next Tuesday
By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The players on this year’s Fishers girls basketball team may be new to on-court experience, but they are already proven leaders.
That was the observation from the Tigers’ scrimmage with McCutcheon, which took place Wednesday night at the Tiger Den. Fishers has five seniors, five juniors and two sophomores on its varsity roster, including a few familiar names from last season.
“Our leadership is excellent from a culture standpoint and they way they’ve spent a lot of time this offseason developing what they want this program to do,” said Fishers coach Lauren Votaw. “And our seniors have just done an excellent job of that.
“As far as on-the-court experience, we do not have a lot of it, but this group is exceptionally coachable. They’re really fun to be around every day and I’ve seen steps. Even tonight, that was better than when I filmed our intersquad.”
The Tigers graduated two top seniors, leading scorer Nevaeh Dickman and Allison Scheu, while now-sophomore Riley Schellhammer transferred to Lawrence Central. At the same time, Fishers does have a couple of players on last year’s roster that played supporting roles and will be moving into the spotlight this season.
Senior Natalie Thomas, a 6-2 center, brings the most points back, averaging 4.1 points per season. Thomas also had respectable rebounding numbers, grabbing 2.6 per game.
“Natalie is going to be a big part of what we do,” said Votaw. “We haven’t had a post-centric offense in a long time.”
Another senior, Makayla Triplett, averaged 2.1 points and 2.4 rebounds last winter. Triplett also proved the enthusiasm of the Tigers team: after making a tough second-half basket during the scrimmage, the Fishers bench cheered wildly.
“I was really proud of the way they cheered during the fifth quarter there for the [junior varsity], and I thought that their bench engagement was excellent,” said Votaw. “And that is not something that I’ve had to address at all. I love where we are in a lot of aspects.”
Seniors Nicole Ellison and Akya Koenig also return, while Brooklynn Hudnut is a newcomer. Junior Alanna Anthony has been playing varsity minutes since her freshman year; she brings back 1.9 points and 2.3 rebounds from last year, her sophomore season.
Delaney Wilson and Caroline Kirkendall also got minutes as sophomores, while Audrey Love and Lillian Burns are new to varsity. Sophomores Ella Burleson and Reagan Reiff both got playing time as freshmen.
Votaw said her team will play “at a slower pace, not slow” this year on offense, while the defense will play more zone than it has in past years. That way, the Tigers can take advantage of the length the team has.
“This is the longest team I’ve ever coached,” said Votaw. She read off the heights of some of her players, including Reiff (6-0), Triplett (5-11), Burns (6-1), Anthony (5-10) and the 6-2 Thomas.
“That’s the most length we’ve had,” said Votaw.
Fishers hosts Ben Davis next Tuesday to begin the regular season. The Tigers start Hoosier Crossroads Conference play Nov. 21 at Westfield, which will also likely be the last game for Votaw before she takes maternity leave – Votaw and her husband are adopting a baby.
Assistant coach Bill Thomas (Natalie’s dad) will take over in the interim before Votaw returns, “for the Carmel game, Senior Night,” on Jan. 20.
