By MIKE HUTSELL
Few coaches have the same luxury that Jeffersonville girls’ basketball coach Chad Gilbert enjoys as he enters season No. 10 with the Red Devils this season.
“We actually do have everybody back,” said Gilbert. “There will be times when coaches say they have everybody back, but we have 100 percent of the kids that were our program last year will be back. You can’t put on a price on how valuable that type of experience can be.”
And it won’t just be an experienced roster at Jeff, either. There’s plenty of quality among the returnees from a team that went 23-4 and advanced to the Class 4A Bedford Regional it raises expectations that much higher.
Three all-Hoosier Hills Conference members return, including leading scorer Jalynn McClain (13 point per game on 55 percent field goal shooting last year), fellow sophomore Lakin Roland (11 points per game last season) and senior Shanice Gohlson, the defending IHSAA state champion in the 100-meter dash.
Point guard Jamice Williams is also back after earning an honorable-mention all-conference selection and senior Alexis Samuel provides four years-worth of varsity experience to the club.
“We’ll be lucky going into the year, because we have a lot of kids who have already been here and been playing varsity basketball now for two or three years,” Gilbert stated. “Our seniors will have four years of being a part of our program. It’s experience that we haven’t had here in quite some time.”
Jeff will have to call on all of those advantages early, as it opens the year with three straight road contests and plays six of its first nine contest away from Johnson Arena.
Four of the squads’ opening five conference games are also road contest, including a two-game stretch in December against fellow HHC-frontrunners Columbus East and Floyd Central.
“We’ll be challenged early on,” said Gilbert. “We need to be road tested early and ready for those challenges when we get to them.
“There are two areas and two stats that will determine the success of this team. We have to shoot free throws well and handle the basketball and, stat-wise, we have to focus on our opponents field goal percentage and rebound margin. If we are successful in those areas, we’ll have a successful season. If we struggle, we likely won’t meet the standard and expectations that we put on our program every season.”
