(by Don Meador, The Citizen-Times, November 16, 2016) Allen County-Scottsville Lady Patriot basketball will make somewhat of a transition this season as new faces and names will be asked to carry on one of Kentucky’s elite girls’ basketball programs. The torch of continuing to carry on the tradition-rich program---a program whose resume includes eight Region 4 championships and 18 District 15 titles---will be passed to a talented and somewhat untested team.
“We are very young and inexperienced at some very key spots,” Lady Patriot coach Brad Bonds explained. “We have spent a lot of time this summer getting better individually with our skills. We have been shooting the basketball a lot trying to develop some long range shooters and develop some guards.”
The 2016-17 Lady Patriots will look to replace four key players from last year’s 25-5 squad. Gone are starters Savannah Gregory, Jordan Brooks, and Sydney Hurt along with Kayla Hudson---a fourth starter until her senior year was ended prematurely with a knee injury last December. Gregory, Brooks, Hurt, and Hudson helped lead the Lady Patriots to 109 wins in 128 games during a remarkable four years.
Now, a new group of Lady Patriots are being asked to make new memories that will last forever. Bonds is quick to note that the work to do just that has already started.
“This team has worked really hard to give themselves their own identity,” coach Bonds said. “Lady Patriot basketball has been very good the last few years and they understand the expectations and the level of play that they need to continue to achieve. We just have to continue to work each and every day to put ourselves in a position to continue to get better.”
While overall young and inexperienced, the Lady Patriots will have three players that have been on the court in multiple key situations during the past two seasons---senior RaeAnn Stafford and sophomores Sarah Sutton and Mason Towery.
RaeAnn Stafford has appeared in 84 games in her career. Last year, Stafford started 26 games with her role being the team’s shooting guard. The three-point shooting specialist nailed 35 of the 118 threes she attempted with her outside threat proving to be key in opening up opposing defenses in several games.
“RaeAnn is a good leader but she does need to be a little more vocal and we have talked about that over the course of the last couple of weeks,” coach Bonds noted. “She is a great kid to lead by example. She offers us a lot with her ability to stretch a defense. Opponents have to honor the perimeter play of RaeAnn. We have really stressed to her and she has focused on being more than just a catch-and-shoot type of player. She’s going to have to put the ball on the floor a little bit more and be more of a threat off the dribble. She does have very valuable experience from making big baskets in the state tournament to last when she came in to her own making key baskets for this team.”
Sarah Sutton steps onto the court as a sophomore but a sophomore that has a senior-like resume. Sutton has played in 92 games for the Lady Patriots and has been a starter 60 times over the past two seasons. Last season, Sutton averaged 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. Sutton made 76 or 99 free throws with her 76.8 free throw percentage the second highest on team. Sutton went 114 of 234 from the field for a 48.7% mark, second highest on team. Her highlights included a 23-point effort against South Warren and a season-high 12 rebounds against Glasgow in district championship game. Sutton averaged 24.2 minutes of playing time.
Mason Towery is the second part of the twin-tower sophomore twosome. Towery appeared in every game as a freshman last season, averaging 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds. Towery started four games including the final three games of season---filling in for Gregory’s season-ending knee injury suffered against Russell County. Towery averaged 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds in the final three game of the season. Her numbers included her first career double-double (15 points, 15 rebounds) in AC-S’s Region 4 quarterfinal loss to Logan County.
“You are going to see Sarah and Mason really take on a new level of play,” coach Bonds added. “They are the ones that will have to shoulder a lot of scoring responsibility. They have gotten better in that role. When you have two horses like Sutton and Towery, you can build a lot around them. The good news is that we will have them for three more years.”
Building around RaeAnn Stafford, Sutton and Towery will be a five-remember junior class that is filled with a strong mix of role players who will be asked to step in and step up. The class includes Sydney Day, Kali Mutter, Bailee Alderson, Baylea Cook, and KaeLee Stafford.
“Several of our juniors have very little experience on the court at the varsity level,” Bonds said. “But, they will get better with time. They are all a good group of role players.”
Day brings the most experience to the floor from the junior class, having appeared in every game last season. However, her play at this point is in question. Day suffered a knee injury in a recent practice and her status going forward is still a question mark.
“When healthy, she will be doing a lot of guard play for us,” Bonds explained. “Right now, we don’t know how much time she will miss.”
Bonds will also look to his other juniors for contribution in a variety of ways.
“Kali Mutter is the next one with the experience,” Bonds said. “She has to become a better scoring threat and ball handler. Bailee Alderson should be able to help us inside, Baylea Cook looked good at times this summer, and KaeLee Stafford is someone that can give us some good minutes in scoring and free throw situations. The entire junior class are role players that all have very valuable assets within their role that we can build on.”
The varsity roster also includes two additional sophomores---a small, but spirited fireball in guard Jaylee Woods and Alexus King, who returns to the court after being sidelined her entire freshman season due to a foot injury and the surgery which followed
“Jaylee has come a long way,” Bonds said. “The energy she provides on the floor is amazing. You will see her do things defensively that could be game-changing but she will have to get better offensively. Alexus didn’t see any floor time but she has the ability to score. She has a natural ability that comes out but there is a learning curve for her before we can get her on the floor.”
Bonds adds that his squad will also include three younger kids that are expected to develop into solid players in the coming years---freshman Allie Byrn and eighth-graders Allison Meador and Jae McReynolds.
“Allie Byrn is a skilled position player that will play a lot of post for us,” Bonds noted. “She is good at blocking out and rebounding. Our eighth-graders are as tough as nails and they will see some varsity time. Allison had a natural ability to score and is still learning the system and figure out what’s going on at the varsity speed. Jae is a tremendous ball-handler who will see a lot of point guard duty.”
The Lady Patriot program will enter the season with a goal of getting better practice-to-practice and game-to-game. Expect the season to have ups-and-downs---perhaps in some ways reminiscent of the 2011-12 season, the last season that the Lady Patriots fail to reach the 20-win mark.
“This team has a lot to learn but they are learning every day,” Bonds pointed out. “We are going to have games where youth is going to show but we will also have games when everything will click and you will see the ceiling of potential this team can offer. That’s what makes coaching fun. These kids are great kids and a great group to work with. We just have to get better every single day.”
Compounding the challenge is the fact that AC-S plays in one of the toughest district’s and regions in Kentucky.
“This district is so hard,” coach Bonds said. ”I see Monroe County not only as a district powerhouse but a team that everyone is going to see as a team to beat in the region. Glasgow loss Bre Glover but, in my opinion, will be as good if not better. Barren County is improved under coach Piper Lindsey’s system.”
In The Cats Pause magazine, Monroe County is rated second in Region 4 with Glasgow regarded as the fifth best team. AC-S checks in at seventh with Barren County in the 10th possession.
“I see a lot of teams that could win the region,” Bonds noted. “It’s a lot about who gets hot and who stays healthy.”
South Warren---the team that AC-S’s faces in their season opener on November 29---is regarded as the Region 4 favorite. Defending regional champion Bowling Green is third with Russell County listed as fourth in the highly-competitive regional race.
The Lady Patriots enter the season with an outside chance of reaching a milestone in Kentucky girls basketball. AC-S has an overall won-loss record of 776-413. Currently, only two high school girls’ programs in the state (Marshall County and Sacred Heart) have ever reached the 800-win mark. Coach Bonds is also 10 wins away from the 200-win mark in his career.
One intangible that may come into play this season is the fact that AC-S will once again “fly under the radar.” This term was used repeatedly as the Lady Patriots went from a 12-18 record in the 2010-11 season to a 27-5 record two years later. During that stretch, the Lady Patriots gradually improved and learned from tough losses. Players were conditioned, prepared, and built into a team that found a way to win in big-game situations---such as road wins last year at Bowling Green, Glasgow, and Monroe County.
This year may put AC-S into a similar situation---situations in which even setbacks will serve to as building blocks for success down the road.
“I also feel like this team is going to be overlooked by many,” Bonds added. “We are back to flying under the radar but that is okay.”
The Lady Patriots tip off against South Warren at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 29 at Patriot Gym. The first week will also see the Lady Patriots travel to Corbin before opening District 15 play on December 6 at Barren County. AC-S will also scrimmage this Saturday morning at 9 a.m. (CST) at Bullitt East.