Entering his fifth season as the coach of the Northmor Lady Golden Knights basketball team, Freddie Beachy is expecting the squad to improve on its 7-17 record last year.
Beachy said the Lady Golden Knights dealt with injuries that forced him to shuffle the lineup several times, but it did give the players experience that he hopes will help the team improve this year. The team has six seniors, four juniors and a sophomore, with 10 returning letter winners among them.
“With all the returning letters coming back, it's going to help us with handling ball pressure or handling the pressure of a varsity game,” he said. “I had three girls last year that never played varsity, and we had a couple of injuries and these sophomores got thrown into the fire. We should be more comfortable in game situations and playing together.”
The team began practicing on Oct. 23, and Beachy said he will be relying on two seniors to lead the team.
“Lexi Wenger has been District 11 first team the last two years,” he said. “In fact, her first year, she made it as a sophomore. She was the only sophomore in District 11 on the first team. She plays shooting guard, post, she plays wherever I ask her, and Reagan Swihart played point guard last year, and this year she will be the shooting guard along with Lexi.”
They have both started since they were freshmen, so they will be four-year starters, Beachy said.
Beachy said he hopes to dictate the pace of the game on both ends of the floor this year.
“Offensively, more up-tempo, run some fast breaks and maybe not as many sets and kind of put pressure on the defense,” he said. “Defensively, more pressure, try and let the defense dictate what they are going to do instead of letting offenses dictate what they are going to do. A lot of pressure. A lot of trapping.”
Experience is the strength of the team, Beachy said.
“I have a bunch of returning letter winners; we should be able to handle it,” he said. “Believing that they can compete every time they are on the court regardless of who we are playing.”
While last year was a trying season, Beachy said the ability for members of the team to play multiple positions will be an asset this year.
“Last year, we had a bunch of JV players from the year before,” he said. “We had a major injury to our starting point guard. I had three kids playing out of position. This year, it will work out. They are used to playing in a different position. This year, they can fit right in that role. It was a learning experience last year because we graduated a three-year starting point guard that had a high basketball IQ, so we had to start from scratch last year, and the girl we had a point (guard) broke her collarbone in the second game of the season, so we had to scramble and try to train a new point guard at the beginning of the season, and that just doesn’t work.”
Beachy said the incoming freshmen have a bit of a high IQ for basketball and “they’re athletic.”
“The kids that did play varsity last year knew that they had to get better, and I have seen a great improvement from last year to just having the summer practices to having practice now, and there are at least eight or nine that put in a lot of work all summer,” he said. “I went to a couple shootouts; they showed up for everything. I can honestly see a difference.”
