By KEVIN HARRIS
Last season in her first campaign as New Albany head girls’ basketball coach, Amanda Carmichael had two assets with her team — experience and size.
She had an athletic senior forward in 5-foot-10 Brandi Waller and an experienced point guard in Britany Sutton. Carmichael also had seniors Hali Alexander, Lindsay Johnson and Iesha Maffett.
In her second year at her alma mater, Carmichael has a squad that lacks those first-year assets. The Bulldogs return just two starters and their tallest players who will get lots of varsity minutes stand 5-9. The two returning starters are 5-7 junior guard Kayton Cole and 5-9 senior swingman Anjelicia Groves.
“Apart from those two, I don’t have a lot of kids who didn’t play a lot of varsity minutes last year, especially my younger kids,” Carmichael said. “But they’ve come in with really good attitudes and have worked really hard during the first week (of practice). We’re going to be a lot deeper than last year. I’m going to play a lot of kids. We’re going to be quick and (the Bulldogs) are extremely athletic.
“Every kid I have out there can score. I don’t mean 20 points a game, but they can all put the ball in the basket if need be.”
Carmichael is looking for Cole and Groves to expand their leadership roles this season. Cole is the team’s leading returning scorer at 15.5 points per game, while Groves was the Bulldogs’ top defender last year.
“Kayton kind of sets the tone with everything, even in practice. The girls really look for her for leadership,” Carmichael said. “Kayton is going to have to carry a lot bigger role than she did last year, especially with us losing Brandi Waller.
“A lot of the scoring load is going to be put on Kayton and (Groves) also. We also have to look to (Groves) for leadership. They have got a lot of young kids who are going to be around them. Especially in practice, they’ve really got to carry a huge leadership load.”
Seven players are in the running to fill the three vacancies in the New Albany starting lineup. Three of them are seniors in 5-9 forwards Chantel Booker and Samantha Pitts, who is back after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament last year, and 5-9 wing player Jensen Ricke. Junior Breia McBirth will battle for some playing time at one of the guard spots.
The other three are sophomore guards Kamaren Cole, Kayton’s sister, and Tionna Peters and freshman guard Tanner Marcum. The younger Cole is the leading candidate to replace Sutton at point guard.
“Right now, it’s pretty open,” Carmichael said about her starting lineup. “It may change a lot and it will just depend on who is playing well at the time. I’ve got a lot of kids that I can choose from.”
With the graduation of Waller, who led the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding last season, New Albany lacks a dominant post presence. Therefore, Carmichael plans to use her team’s quickness, especially in its full-court press defense, to score points.
“We’re not very big. We’re going to really, really concentrate on defense and getting after people,” Carmichael said. “That’s something I’m really looking forward to, being able to play eight to 10 kids every game. That even lets us play that way a lot more because I can sub a lot more freely than last year. We may even press more than we did last year.”
Carmichael thinks four teams are in the running to win the Hoosier Hills Conference. They are defending conference champion Jeffersonville, Seymour, Floyd Central and Columbus East. Carmichael considers the Red Devils as the HHC favorites along with being the Class 4A sectional favorites.
“When you get into the conference, everybody that you’re going to play is going to be pretty tough,” Carmichael said. “Jeff will have everybody back. Seymour lost (Kristin) Turner, their best player, but they reloaded with two more kids so they’re going to be good again.
“I think Jeff has to be the favorite because they won conference and sectional last year, and they have everybody returning.”
Carmichael said the toughest part of the nonconference schedule will be the Floyd Central Tournament, which will take place over the holidays.
