Princeton capped a remarkable run to the state tournament last season with a loss to eventual champion Morgantown.
Now the Lady Tigers will reload and shoot for the same goal in a region and section that’s down across the board. Much like his assistant coach Keith Taylor does, who also coached the football team to a state title appearance, head coach Matt Smith is speaking a berth at states into existence.
“There’s a lot of excitement and you know, coach Taylor and I are very close and, and so I’ve been telling people I gotta be more like him and not shy away from things,” Princeton head coach Matt Smith said. “I expect us to be in Charleston at the end of the year. I just do. I know we’ve asked a lot but like I said, those young girls that got to experience it are hungry and want to go out and prove to everybody that you know, it wasn’t just a one year thing, like, we’re trying to build a program that is sustainable and I tell I really do I think that I think the potential of this team is that we make another run to Charleston.”
While the Tigers graduated numerous starters including Autumn Bane and Kylie Conner, they also return a few.
Leading the charge is Maddie Stull, an all-state honorable as well as Asia Collins who started at point guard last year.
“You mentioned Maddie and she’s been a two-time honorable mention all-state player,” Smith said. “We’re looking for contributions from her obviously and also, starters we had last year. Asia Collins stepped up last year as a sophomore when we had some injuries at the beginning of the season. She stepped into the starting lineup and then we never could take her out and both those kids worked their tails off this summer. And, you know, when you see when you see your leaders in the gym, it makes everybody else want to get in there as well. Another key contributor who I’m looking for huge things from this year’s Kaylee Wright. She got some varsity action last year she was kind of stuck behind a lot of those seniors you were talking about that all played the same position, but I really do think she’s gonna have a special year for us. She’s a heck of a player.”
The Tigers’ identity rested on defense and it’s what got them to the state tournament. Smith is hoping to see that again as well as some offensive improvement.
“First of all, as a coach I hope we bring that same defensive intensity,” Smith said. “But I do think at least with the junior class there are some girls who have some shooting ability. I don’t know if it’s just the fact that we’ve been free in practice and loose, I don’t know, but we’ve been making a lot of shots. So I think that we will be able to score a little bit easier. I think part of the problem last year was we just started off slow and then we kind of morphed into this defensive team because we didn’t score well.
“I think some of those girls last year were better scorers than they showed. But I think this year we’re gonna be able to score better and have that same defensive intensity because you know defense never goes away. Shooting will come and go. That was shown in a couple games last year. But if you have that defensive intensity, it carries through no matter what kind of night you’re having offensively. So I do expect us to be in a better offensive team. But I’m still hopeful that we were that same scrappy defensive team that just gets after it and tries to make the other team uncomfortable.”
