Lady Greyhounds look to step up outside
The Newport Lady Greyhounds hope their experience and quickness will help turn their season around this year, after finishing just 3-22 in 2017. Second-year head coach Victoria Atchley said Newport has more experienced players and will be “a lot more well-rounded.” “We are still young this year, only having two seniors, with the majority of my players being juniors,” Atchley said. “This will be very beneficial for this year and next year, but losing this junior class in a few years will be hard. “The girls have truly bought into all the changes this year and last year, and it shows on the court. I cannot wait to see what this year holds for us, but we still have a long way to go.” Newport has three returning starters, including junior point guard Alicia Neal, who averaged 8 points per game with 3 assists last year; junior forward Taniya Keener, who averaged 8 points per game and 5 rebounds; and junior post player Lindsey Marlar, who averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds per game. Junior Jerikah Balentine was not a starter last year, but she averaged 15 points per game and shot 36 percent from the 3-point range. The coach said Balentine will start this year. “I believe that our strength this year will be our outside players,” Atchley said. “We have some great players who can hit some key shots from the outside. “Outside play is what we have been missing, and I hope that we continue to step it up in this area this year. I have two outside shooters I believe to be pretty close when trying to decide who is the best.” Joining Balentine on the outside is senior newcomer Hannah Curtis. “She is very quick with the ball and has one of the best shots I have seen in a long time,” Atchley said. “She is always a ‘Yes Ma’am’ and ‘No Ma’am’ type of player and works very hard every day in practice. “She is one of our captains, a natural leader and will do great things for us this year.” The coach said another strength for Newport is the team’s quickness. She said that strength played in their advantage last year a little but will play even more in their favor this year. “We are small, but we make up for that with our aggressiveness and defensive pressure,” Atchley said. On the opposite side of that, Newport doesn’t have a lot of height. The tallest varsity player doesn’t even reach 6 feet. “We will be small this year and in the coming years, but we make up for that with our quickness,” the coach said. Last year, Newport competed in the 3A-4A combined conference. This year, Newport switched back to strictly 3A. The conference consists of Harding Academy, Riverview, Tuckerman, Newport, Palestine Wheatley, Cedar Ridge, Bald Knob, Cave City and Harrisburg. “I believe our toughest challenge will be Riverview,” Atchley said.