Last year Midland Trail accepted the challenge of stepping up to Class AAA following the first year of the four-class trial run. It paid dividends. Despite losing in the sectional championship, the Patriots advanced to the regional title game and beat Shady Spring on the road to return to the state tournament.
Now the challenge comes in replacing the three seniors that started last season.
“We lost three starters in Emily Dickerson, Makenzie Kessler and Jolee Stephenson,” Trail head coach John Mark Kincaid said. “We didn’t play a lot of kids last year either. Meghan Gill is probably our top returner and Mia Nuckols. We’ve got those two starters back but we didn’t play a lot of people last year. I usually play a lot of kids but up and down we had to change it up a little bit last year.”
The loss of Dickerson was particularly painful as she led the team in scoring for three years and served as the team’s primary ball handler. Kincaid acknowledges there’s probably no replacing her in the immediate future but believes there may be a way of stacking contributions to help replace her production.
“There’s not that many 20-point scorers out there,” Kincaid said. “She could light it up. I’m not sure we’ll replace her but we do have a really good freshman class and we’ve got a lot of sophomores that played a lot this summer. We’ll play a lot of freshmen and sophomores and will probably have to change our style and go back to playing more people and trying to pick up the pace. It’s going to be difficult replacing Emily. She was a player.”
Gill, who recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the team’s state tournament game last season, will be expected to step in and fill the leadership void left by those seniors. But the loss of talent also forces Kincaid to adjust his philosophies.
“In our half court set, Meghan Gill is pretty tough,” Kincaid said. “She’s signed to play at Alderson Broaddus next fall. She’s got a lot of potential. She’s almost 6-foot and can dribble and shoot. She’s just got to change her role now and be aggressive and look to take over. She has the ability to do so.”
“We’re going to be a totally different style of team. I’ve always been a trapping and pressing type of coach and last year went away from it. We were pretty successful and went to Charleston with it. I’d like to go back to that style. We’ve got a lot of really good young kids. I think we’ll be okay but when you play young kids they’ve got to learn. December might be pretty rough on us but by the time we get to February I think we’ll be pretty good. There’s a lot of potential there.”
That optimism is why Kincaid isn’t lowering the bar. Despite the youth movement in Hico he believes there’s more than enough talent to make a return to Charleston provided the team continues to grow.
“I think we still have an opportunity to go to the state tournament,” Kincaid said. “I think we’re going to have to work hard and improve, but that freshman class coming up is pretty strong. I’ve got a starting point guard that’s a freshman and a pretty dynamic player. Her name is Addy Isaacs and I think she’s going to be okay, score a few buckets. All three sophomores have improved and I might end up starting a few freshmen but we’re okay. We’ve got a lot of work to do but there’s a lot of potential there.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
