Hawks women's hoops team will rely on speed
Story by Brayden Leather, Herald-Mail Sports
After reaching the NJCAA Region XX Division II semifinals and finishing with a 13-10 record last season, the Hagerstown Community College women's basketball team is back looking to build on its success.
Head coach Bernie Semler is embracing the challenge of using different methods to find success with a team on which the tallest player is listed at 5-foot-9.
"This is probably the first time in a long time that I have coached a team that's as small as this," Semler said. "We're going to have to do some things that I have not had to do in a long time. We're going to play some small ball and defense is really going to be the major thing for us."
With a roster that features a majority of guards, the Hawks will try to make the most of their quickness.
"Jelling and playing together is the one thing we have to get yet," Semler said. "Getting everybody on the same page and having everybody doing the same thing, and not having your own personal agendas.
"It's early in the season and that's usually when everybody's thinking: 'Gee, what's my point average,' and that's really not important. The important thing is to be competitive and put the best effort that you can on the floor."
"We've grown a lot already in the preseason," sophomore point guard Brittanie Wray said. "We need to minimize turnovers and stay as a unit. When we play together and we're all talking and communicating, we get good outcomes."
The schedule will present another challenge to the Hawks. Two of the toughest opponents they will face are Harford and Baltimore City, two NJCAA Division I teams that have built a reputation on recruiting talent. The Hawks will face them in midseason, traveling to Baltimore on Dec. 4 and hosting Harford a week later on Dec. 12.
But much to Semler's pleasure, the Hawks have eight returning experienced sophomores on the roster to mix with just two freshmen.
"That was a big recruiting year for us last year," Semler said. "Right now the two kind of 'players to watch' I would say would be Wray and Chelsea Cover, our two-guard."
Wray finished last season with a 37.6 field-goal percentage and 3.4 rebounds per game. Cover, a Waynesboro graduate, posted a 37.4 field-goal percentage and averaged 8.3 points.
"That fact that most of us are returners and we have the chance to go to nationals this year is exciting," Cover said. "I hope to do everything I can to make my team better all-around. I'd like for us to improve every game and have a winning record come the end of the season.
"We're fast, we're super short and do not have much height. We tend to work together real well because most of us have played together."
The roster lists two forwards, sophomores Tori Fowlkes and Morgan Henderson (Smithsburg), and six sophomore guards, Cheska Knable (Broadfording), Sarah Meiklejohn (Boonsboro), Wray, Cover, Rokhyatou Sidibe and Malerie Wratchford (Spring Mills).
The two freshmen on the roster are guards Janae Holman (Williamsport) and Hiyanna Keller.
"We had four scrimmage games over the weekend and there were times when certain combinations worked really well and then there were times when that combination didn't work very well," Semler said. "So I would say it's more like the top seven, maybe, depending on who you're playing. Once we get into January, that's when the starting lineup really starts to mean something."
Semler said his only concern with his team this year is staying healthy.
"I'm looking at this group of kids and they're all good students, so I'm not worried about them academically," Semler said. "But we are fragile and the loss of one or two kids could really hurt us, so we have to stay healthy, eat right, rest, make sure we're doing what we're supposed to be doing and be where we're supposed to be."