Angie Mann’s return to the sideline in Lindside was a success last season.
She guided James Monroe back to the state tournament for the first time in 20 years where the Mavericks won a game before falling in the semifinals to the eventual three-time defending state champion in Cameron.
Gone is all-state guard Mary Beth Meadows, now at WVU Tech. Returning is a talented group of players highlighted by Class A first team all-stater Maggie Boroski.
“Mary Beth, she really controlled the ball game so we’re having to definitely regroup, but we’ve got three good ball handlers right there and Ava (Dunlap) and Maya (Dunlap) and Maggie so basically we kind of got Maya running to point,” Mann said. “We like to run our defense and not necessarily have to set up an offense but when we do you we have Maggie and I’ve been kind of going back-and-forth there at that position so we’re getting used to it.
“We have Aaliyah Hill and she was my center last year so we’ve got a ton of seniors. We actually gained a player back that hasn’t played in a couple years and worked on her a little bit this summer and that’s Bryleigh Thomas. Her brother Cameron started on one the boys state championship team and she’s the pitcher on the softball team. She hasn’t played in awhile but she’s got those skills. She’s just gotta get in shape and get moving with the rest of them.”
The experience and talent will be welcomed all around as James Monroe takes a step up from Class A to AA for the next couple of years. Mann scheduled accordingly, putting together a slate that will challenge her team each night in their pursuit of a title.
They’ll open their season with matchups against St. Albans and Cabell Midland with Parkersburg South, Summers County, Greenbrier West and two-time state champion Wyoming East on the slate.
“That’s a big change going up in class,” Mann said. “That’s why we scheduled Mingo Central or some big competition in our section. You never can’t count out Summers County, Bluefield has come along the last couple years. But yeah, it’s always the goal to make it to states but with the changes in region, I’m not really worried about that. The goal is definitely to keep getting better throughout the year and I think we reached that goal last year. We kinda started out not really knowing and working and working and working and then it paid off for us in the long run. We played some teams that were up in classification and it helped us out. That’s about the same thing we’re doing this year. We got some tournaments we’re playing in and we’re just trying to play good teams to make ourselves better. I don’t wanna jump the gun and say I didn’t expect us to make it this year. It wasn’t really an expectation coming in last year. It was just to build program up, but yeah that’s always a goal.”
Constructing a competitive scheduled paid dividends last year, thus Mann went back to the well. Class AA will be loaded again this year with many of the top teams returning their top pieces.
“We wanted to play in our region and we were able to get everybody except for Liberty,” Mann said. “We got invited to some tournaments. The Dunlap girls play travel ball and so we got invited. In the Summersville tournament I think we were supposed to be lined up with Philip Barbour but it’s Independence the first night. I think they set us up with Parkersburg South, which I’m sure will be tough. I think it’ll help that we’re used to each other. Last year it was all new to all of us, the coaches and the players. Last year as far as I saw we all ended up coming together, so they know what we expect now and they feel more comfortable on the floor so going into those types of tournaments I think will be a little bit easier going in than it was last year. Like I said the goal is always to get a little better with each game and I was pleased with that last year. The growth that I saw, I’m going to see the same thing this. Playing and teaching and all that
Mann believes the continuity established last year will be one of the biggest keys to success for her squad. They suffered through some growing pains and were inconsistent in spurts but the hope is they’ll find their groove earlier.
“I think learning each other for one thing and the dynamics of the team which again it’s gonna be a little bit of a change without especially without Mary Beth without Abby (Lusk), but learning the dynamics of who’s on the floor at the time and that’s definitely gonna be a challenge for us,” Mann said. “We got a new person and everybody’s welcomed her and we’re glad to have her but we’re gonna figure out how to get her best game out of her and how to feed off of others and then the feed off of her. But she’s definitely playing a crucial role as a post that we were in need of. As we go through each game, we want to just keep capitalizing on our strengths and trying to figure it out. We capitalized and we really came through when it was important. I mean we hit the ground running during sectionals and just kept going from there and I think seeing what best works for us defensively, we really focus on that quite a bit.”
