The Fairfield Lady Lions basketball program was young last year. This year, with only one senior and over half the team being freshman and sophomores, they are even younger. Lady Lions head coach Chad Hamilton believes that his team will get to where they need to be sooner than later though.
“We’re still in the process of learning where to be and how exactly we’re going to be the most effective,” Hamilton said. “We’re making really good progress and I think we’ll get there sooner than later.
One of the players that Fairfield will have to replace from last season is Kaitlin Evans, who was the team’s leading scorer and one of their top defenders.
“Kaitlin was almost irreplaceable in a lot of ways,” said coach Hamilton. “Grace Shope returns this year as a sophomore and was our second highest scorer on the team last season, so she will be asked to carry a large portion of the load. We have a lot of pieces to put around her. We do have a lot of talent, it’s just going to be a matter of putting it together.”
The lone senior on the team will be Macey Paulie, who is a transfer from Washington Court House.
“Macey went to Court House and then came back,” said Hamilton. “She actually came back last year but didn’t play. She is very skilled offensively and will be another scorer. I think she can be a big help to the tea this season.”
“We’re small,” said Hamilton on his team’s size compared to other teams they will play throughout the season. “We’ll have to really shoot the ball well from the outside and play good interior defense because we’re going to be outsized in nearly very game we play. We do have the speed to make up for that. We can play uptempo and will be able to press teams.
“Our goal is to have a winning record and go to the district tournament. I know that maybe that could be set up in phases, but that’s basically it. We’re focusing on that and trying to get as many wins as we can early and just progress as the season goes along.”
Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.
