“Defend ‘til the end,” that’s the rallying cry for Northmor’s girl's basketball team this season.
Golden Knights coach Fred Beachy preaches “defense-defense-defense” with this year’s squad.
Northmor looks to improve on last season's 11-10 overall record and 6-6 mark in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference. The Golden Knights defeated Granville Christian Academy, 67-39, in the first round of last season’s playoffs before falling to Fisher Catholic, 64-36, to end their season.
Beachy begins his seventh season as head coach with four returning letter-winners and the search for offensive production. While Beachy is defense-oriented, he is well aware that one has to score to win, and scoring may be an issue as the Golden Knights graduated almost all of their scorers from last season. Lexi Wenger, who led the KMAC with a 15.5 ppg average and pulled down seven rebounds per game, is the most significant loss for the Northmor squad.
“Our defensive strength is our quickness; rather, we hope it will be our quickness,” Beachy said. “Concerns on defense will be the inexperience of all the girls playing varsity.”
The Golden Knights will employ a motion offense in the half-court while looking to apply a lot of ball pressure,
"We will press and trap to create offense," Beachy said.
The Golden Knights' coach’s philosophy has been developed from a variety of sources and is focused on continuous improvement.
“I get it from any coach willing to share it with me,” Beachy said. “I always want to learn and get better.”
With only four seniors on the team, Beachy is putting a lot of pressure on them to carry this team. His expectations for this year is for the team to grow, learn and compete.
“Play hard ‘til the end,” Beachy said.
The Golden Knights open the season at home against Colonel Crawford on Friday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 pm
In addition to Colonel Crawford, the Golden Knights' non-conference schedule features games with Wynford, Crestline, Loudonville, Millersport, Mapleton, Genoa Christian Academy, Utica and Galion.
