CHARLOTTESVILLE — Two years ago, the Eastern Hancock Royals girls basketball team won its second sectional title in school history.
They are — mostly — ready to make a run at a third this year.
The outlook is trending up for the Royals, who went 14-10 last year and fell in the sectional semifinals to rival Shenandoah. With only two seniors graduated, the team returns a huge portion of its core, several of whom played on the sectional-winning team.
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“We graduated two leaders,” Eastern Hancock coach Shari Doud said. “Sometimes leadership is hard to replace, but we do return a lot of kids, and this team has shown to be leadership-oriented throughout all four classes. We’ve got a lot of good, positive voices on the court this year, which is nice to have. From that standpoint, we’re excited.
“Statistically speaking, we return a lot. I think we return 38 points per game from last year’s team.”
Two seniors will be stepping into leadership roles this year, as both Jenna Smith and Haley Best, three-year varsity players, are back.
Smith, the team’s starting forward/center, averaged 9.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game last season. Best, who will start at point guard, averaged 8.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game a season ago.
The two were the leading scorers for the Royals in the 2017-18 campaign. They’ll be joined by several key players, including juniors Jocelyn Duncan and Alyson Spaulding, who have a lot of varsity experience.
“Most people would take that in a nervous way, but I’m ready for it,” Best said of stepping into a leadership role. “I’m excited. I love all these girls and I love playing with them. I look up to some of them that are younger than me. I’m excited for it.”
The Royals have several younger faces that could make a big impact, but the common theme among them unfortunately is injury.
Sophomore Chloe O’Neal is coming off a double stress fracture in her back. Bella Witte, also a sophomore, missed two-thirds of last season to injury and is coming off foot surgery.
A freshman who could make an impact on the varsity roster when she’s healthy is Lili Hunt. Hunt, at 5-foot-11-inches, is a strong, physical player who should give the team depth and size where it is lacking it inside.
It may take a few weeks, though, as she’s recovering from ankle surgery.
“We’re a little bit beat up going in, but we’re not beat up to the point that we can’t recover and move on,” Doud said. “It’s kind of nice that we don’t play (until next Friday).”
Returning so much scoring from last year — the Royals have their top six scorers back — gives the team a lot of scoring depth.
Having so many key pieces of the varsity lineup means there is a lot of familiarity and chemistry among those expected to play.
This is a team that could put up a lot of points, and it could come from any number of players.
“We have a lot of kids capable of scoring double figures any given night,” Doud said. “One of five or six players can put up 18 or 20 points a night, and that won’t surprise me if that changes from one player to the next.”
Doud said that along with the scoring, her team could be very strong defensively thanks to their quickness and defensive readiness.
They don’t have a lot of size outside of Smith, and she isn’t a typical bruising post player. The Royals’ leading returning scorer and rebounder is more of a savvy, finesse-style player over one that leans on brute force, Doud said. When she’s healthy, hopefully within the month, Hunt will add that dimension with her size.
A big focus for the Royals this year will be protecting the basketball and minimizing turnovers. Last year, the team averaged 14 turnovers per game.
That’s a glaring weakness, Doud said. It’s something they both want to minimize and need to minimize this year to beat the better teams on the schedule.
If they can do that, the Royals could have a highly successful season.
“I feel like we can be very competitive in our conference. One of our goals is to finish in the top three of the conference,” Doud said. “We are very capable of winning way more than we did last year. We won 14 regular-season games last year, and I think we should build on that. I think we’re capable of being a 16-plus win team.”
The wins and the higher positioning in the conference aren’t the only goals.
Best, who was on the sectional championship team as a sophomore, wants to experience that level of success again in her final year with the Royals.
“I feel most of the girls are confident, especially because we’ve all played together for a while now,” she said. “I want to work our way up to a sectional win again and just be a family. I’m just wanting us to be close and make the season a good season, win or lose any game, it doesn’t matter. I know we’re going to do good.”
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Three Hancock County teams tip off their 2018-19 seasons tonight, with Mt. Vernon at home and New Palestine and Greenfield-Central on the road. Eastern Hancock doesn’t open its season until next Friday.
The season openers for each team are listed below.
Tonight
New Palestine at Connersville, 7:30 p.m.
Greenfield-Central at Greenwood, 7:30 p.m.
Franklin Community at Mt. Vernon, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 9
Eastern Hancock at Centerville, 7:30 p.m.
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