GORDON LEE LADY TROJANS FULL COURT PRESS
With Gordon Lee head coach Kevin McElhaney
Last year’s team suffered a number of fairly close losses. What are one or two things you have to improve on this season to turn some of those close losses into wins?
We were in a lot of close games last year that could have gone either way. Unfortunately, they went the other way at times. We must work on finishing the game. We must meet the challenges of late-game execution. As a team, we have to focus on executing in close games and cut the turnovers that let those games get away at times.
The focus for us will be to increase our practice tempo, so that we will be better able to respond deep in the fourth quarter. We will also depend on depth to help keep us fresh for those fourth-quarter runs.
You graduated a small, but valuable senior class. What sort of things will this team’s players have to do to make up for what you lost to graduation?
We graduated a very solid senior class last year, so it will be very important for the seniors this season to step up and take on positive leadership roles. We have challenged them to be the leaders they can be. Also, our juniors played a lot during the season last year and can take leadership roles on this team.
Another key in replacing those seniors, is the development of the incoming freshmen. As a group, they worked all summer long making themselves better. We increased the amount of time we spent in the summer in order to help them get ready for the speed of the games. We had great turnout by the freshman class and, game after game, they got better and better.
What is the strength of this year’s team, or what do you think it will be by the time the season gets into region play?
Our strength lies in the fact that the upperclassmen have all been through multiple years of competing and should be ready to reap the benefit of their work as underclassmen. Also, our younger girls are talented and have been coached well at the middle school, so they will hopefully be ready to go by the time we get into the heart of our season.
What is the key or keys to this season?
The keys to the season are pretty simple. First, stay healthy. We need everyone ready to go each game. Second, we need our playmakers to do exactly that — make the key plays in crunch time. Third, we need for our younger players to step up and be able to provide the depth we need for those close games that go into the late stages of the game.