MCHS Girls Basketball Preview
The McDonald County High School girls’ basketball team enters the 2020-2021 season under the direction of new coach Sean Crane — once the season gets started.
After a week of practice, Crane was down to five players after most of the team was quarantined for two weeks due to being exposed to the coronavirus.
Crane is not new to McDonald County, having served as an assistant coach on the boys’ team last year.
The new coach greets a veteran squad that includes two returning starters among the five returning lettermen.
“We have a young group with a few older kids mixed in,” Crane said. “We have a good mixture with four seniors to lead the way. The seniors have a lot of experience, which is awesome. They have been doing really well. We have intermixed them with some of the younger players just for them to get used to playing together.”
Seniors Sydney Killon and Kristin Penn are both returning starters, while Laney Wilson and Caitlyn Barton are returning lettermen who saw a lot of playing time last year.
Sophomore Samara Smith rounds out the returning lettermen.
“Sydney is obviously our leader,” Crane said. “She gives us guard play that we are going to have to rely on a lot, especially to start the season because most of our guards are young. She is also one of our best defenders and she will guard our opponent’s best player every night. Kristin will be able to score for us, but she has to get better defensively.”
Newcomers to the varsity include juniors Adasyn Leach and Ebenee Munoz and sophomores Reagan Myrick and Megan Elwood.
Crane also noted he has a strong group of incoming freshmen that will make an impact on the team.
“We have 11 freshman and three upperclassmen that are new to the program,” Crane said. “I am glad to have those three girls come back out this year. With the freshmen, they give us a lot of new faces this year.”
Crane said, with his returning starters and lettermen, the Lady Mustangs have the potential to be a good club.
“I think, at some point, our strength will be our defense,” Crane said. “I think we will be able to really guard people. We also have a lot of depth. We have kids with a lot of similarities so we can play a lot of people.”
Crane said the team’s goal is to be playing its best basketball by the end of the season.
“Our goal by the end of the season is to compete for the conference and district title,” Crane said. “We think we have the pieces to give anybody trouble on any given night. We just have to get all the puzzle pieces put together.”
Crane said he was liking what he saw at practices until he lost most of his team for two weeks due to quarantine protocols.
“I do think we have a long way to go,” Crane said. “But with that being said, I think we have a lot of the tools for us to be successful — it’s just going to take awhile. I think we have the ability to stabilize our program and make it where we are decent and competitive year in and year out. I am happy with where we have been before we had to basically shut down for two weeks.”
The Lady Mustangs season opener scheduled for Nov. 24 was postponed until Dec. 5. McDonald County opened the season on Nov. 30 at the Carl Junction tournament. McDonald County is at Cassville on Dec. 7 and at the Joplin tournament on Dec. 10. McDonald County’s home opener is set for Dec. 15 when the Lady Mustangs host Webb City.