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New-look Bobcats adjusting to young squad
Being drubbed 73-20 isn't exactly the most ideal way for a team to open the winter basketball season.But Battlefield varsity girls basketball coach Eric McCaslin did not express too much worry about his young squad that fell on the road to state-contender Forest Park last Wednesday.
"We're just young. We've got a lot to learn; that's about it," said McCaslin. "It's a bad night, bad game. Sweep it under the rug and move on."
The game was the first since the 2004-05 season that did not feature Selina Mann, the program's all-time leading scorer and premier player. Mann graduated in the spring and accepted a Division I-A athletic scholarship. Working without her is something different for McCaslin.
"You know, we miss obviously having somebody that can settle you down a little bit and that's what she provides. The youth is what we need to (coach) right now,” he said.
Overall, he said, this year's team is a "good group" that is "athletic but raw at this point. They're still learning. They've played some basketball but they've still got a lot to do."
According to four-year varsity veteran Annie Jones, the young team is still getting used to each other.
"I think it's just really different for us because we have a whole new team out there," said the senior center.
Veteran Taylor Cordle explained that the Bobcats may be young but have "a lot of basketball knowledge on the team. We know what we have to do and we just have to translate that to the game,” she said.
Cordle added that the role for herself and Jones is to make sure everyone on the court stays level-headed in games like the Forest Park match where there are large gaps on the scoreboard.
McCaslin mentioned that some of the new talent on the team is loaded with athleticism even though they are new to varsity basketball. Take soccer standout Dominique Evans for example. Evans is a leading scorer for the Bobcats and was on the soccer team during its 2008 run to the state title game against Robinson.
"I think we need to be more patient," said McCaslin. "We need to work the ball around a little bit more."
He said the team goal is simply to get "better every day" while Cordle added that the key to more offensive success will be for players to feed off each other better, particularly around the post.
"We know (what) we need to do," she said. "We have a lot of heart."
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