Last year’s Lady Buffaloes of West Greene went 8-19 on the season with mostly freshman and sophomores, that would indicate that while they are youg they have experience.
The Lady Buffs only have one senior on this year’s team, but that one senior is a four-year starter in Morgan Brown.
Coach Betsy Shaw says, “Morgan is our do-everything player. She does it all for us. We’re thankful to have her here as a leader.”
Brown can play point guard, she is Lady Buffaloes’ top returning outside shooter, and she is the team’s best perimeter defender.
You could see the delight in coach Shaw’s eyes and hear the excitement in her voice when she talked about her sophomore post player, 6’0″ Joie Shipley. Shipley arrived on the seen last year and was one of the states leading shot blockers and was a force to reckoned with on both ends of the court.
Shaw says, “She has improved a lot, not only as a player but as a leader.”
Coach Shaw also expects the sophomore twins Emily and Sarah Justis to contribute for the Lady Buffs.
West Greene only has two juniors, Iryna Synyshyn, who played last year, and Jazmine Kesterson who transferred in.
Other sophomores include Nevaeh Fillers, Katelyn Begines, Madison Wagner and Mallorie Lawson, all figure to see action for the Lady Buffs.
The young Lady Buffs also have three freshmen on the squad, Kaylee Gulley, Leann Tunell and 5’10” Payton Norton. Shaw spoke highly of Norton, saying, “Payton is going to make a difference for us and she’s going to play a lot.”
This year’s goals for the Lady Buffs aren’t your traditional goals, Shaw said, “We set a goal of just get better each game, if we get better each game then the team goals of being better than last year and going further than last year in the tournament will be achievable.”
When Shaw was asked if she had any certain game or games circled on the schedule, she was quick to answer, “All of them, I want to win all of ‘em.”
The Lady Buffs open the season at home in the Hall Of Fame game against Claiborne on November 19th. Both the junior varsity and the varsity will be in action beginning at 4pm.
