New coach: Lack of depth may slow Lady Eagles

New head coach Megan Tutor said the West Side Greers Ferry Lady Eagles are the hardest-working group of girls she has coached in her six years as a coach. “I am a tough person to play for, and I am probably tougher than the coach before,” Tutor said. “I am pretty hard-nosed, and I focus on defense — I like to get up in the offense. “They played a lot of zone in the past but will probably play more man. Offensively, I am big on getting the ball inside to our bigs. “I like my structure more than what they have had before.” Tutor was the head girls basketball coach at Harmony Grove a year ago. She led the Lady Cardinals to a 16-15 record, but they lost in overtime in the first round of the regionals. Greers Ferry had a similar ending, losing in the first round of the regional tournament to Mount Vernon-Enola. The Lady Eagles have three starters coming back, including sophomore Hailey Gentry and juniors Alex Southerland and Madison Bailey. Gentry, a guard, moved up at the end of last year and became a leader on the floor, the coach said. “She does a good job reading the defense and can score and find the open man,” said Tutor, who was hired on in May. “She has an excellent work ethic. She lives, breathes and eats basketball. She is not scared to take control. “The girls just kind of look to her for that leadership, even though she is young. She was a huge game changer in their postseason games.” Southerland, a forward, was West Side’s leading scorer inside and can “go right or left,” Tutor said. “Madison is probably one of our best ball handlers,” the coach said. “She can shoot it, and she is great in the open floor and finding the open man. “She is also a great defender.” Tutor said the biggest challenge this season will be the team’s depth. She said the team has only seven girls, so they will play uptempo but will also have to slow it down at times, if they run into foul trouble. “Just getting to the regional tournament is going to be tough,” Tutor said. “We have five to six teams [in our conference] that could easily be in the state tournament. “So somebody is going to be left sitting at home.”