Lady Wildcats have title aspirations in 2012-’13 season

LEE – You might wonder what it takes to win a state championship in girls’ basketball these days. Well, if you have any doubts, just ask sixth-year Head Coach Gary Wellington.

His 2012-2013 Wildcat team is loaded with seniors – six in fact, all who are tremendously athletic and are truly gifted. However, there is one catch: they are rather short.

Besides 5’11” senior point forward Stephanie Young, no one on the team reaches 5’9”. Only 5’8” freshman Courtney Picard comes close.

So one might wonder, how do you win a state title in basketball without any height? According to Wellington, you out work your opponent until they have had enough or the horn sounds.

“You know how we win…we run,” said Assistant Coach Niki Wellington.

As starters, fellow seniors Megan Gaul, Moriah McKenna, Hadley Cook and Eileen Dooley will create an offensive firestorm on the court with their ability to push the ball up while creating opportunities on defense with a full-court press.

“We are a fast break – full-court press, the full gambit,” Wellington said. “We are run and gun.”

Off the bench will be senior Sara Middleton and sophomores Alyssa Kelly, Nikki Laudon, Casey Collins and Meghan Cook, alongside freshman Picard.

On Dec. 10, Lee will host its opening game with Mt. Anthony of Bennington, Vt., before heading down to compete in the Hoop Classic in Springfield with some of the best high school basketball teams in the country.

Yet, before the season kicks off, Lee will have to be prepared to win the battle between the lines over the full court, rather than most teams, which rely on a tall front-court player.

“I’m looking at a team that doesn’t have a dominating player,” Wellington said. “We change our defense every time and we have to shoot the ball well and win that 65 feet [the entire court space]; we have to do that – we have to work harder than everybody else.”

With six seniors and four sophomores, Lee will have to develop its bench in order to play its up-tempo style and wear teams down as they did in their most recent state title win.

Cook, Picard and Middleton will have to come in and work the defensive boards in order to help the ‘Cats win games. As Kelly and Cook will have to give some quality relief to Dooley and Hadley Cook.

“It’s these kids’ time to step up,” Wellington said of his seniors. “They need to prove it, and the last week of practice, they have stepped up.”

Lee is probably known as the hardest working team in Berkshire County, and with a winning tradition and seven championship banners hanging from it’s walls, the kids have bought into Coach Wellington’s system to be the best they can be.

“Do you think the Wahconahs and Pittsfields are doing this?” Wellington asks his players. “The kids want to run, they’ve bought into the system – if we didn’t run, they would still want to run.”

Look for Dooley to build on her 147 assists and 138 steals from last year, while Young is just three points away from reaching 1,000 points for her career.

The biggest crime might be not catching these girls competing for championship banner no. 8 come March. Get your tickets now.

Posted by Tim Davis on December 6, 2012. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry