Braves’ heart and chemistry keys to success during the 2010 season

Coach says team has the potential to achieve its goal of winning the league

Jessica Uttinger Basketball player Chloe Hansel practices Monday evening, November 9, 2009 at Talawanda High School

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By Alex Butler, Contributing Writer 12:25 PM Thursday, November 12, 2009

The youth of Talawanda High School’s girl’s basketball may not be a bad thing this season, if you ask coach Rodney Parrett.

Coach Parrett’s girls will soon lace up to face off against the Eaton High School Eagles on Nov. 28 with a rejuvenated look and attitude.

The girls that lost their first four games last season are looking to start this year off on a new dribble.

“Our goal is to win the league and get further in tournaments and sectionals than any girls team ever has been at Talawanda,” Parrett said. “I think we can do that with the girls that we’ve got. They’ve got a lot of heart, a lot of guts and they enjoy playing basketball.”

Changes in faces have only added to the pace of Parrett’s practices. This season, the coach is looking for someone to step up to lead his offense at the point guard spot.

That spot was vacated last year because of injury until now-senior Chloe Hansel stepped in as a temporary fix. But Parrett said he wants to utilize her elsewhere.

“I’m trying to keep her at shooting guard and I’m hoping somebody else will step up and take the point guard spot,” he said.

Hansel took over the offense last year at this same point in the season when the Braves started things off with an identical opponent in the Eagles. The senior will fill a new role this year as she tries to “regulate and keep everyone’s head up.”

“I think we all feel we are very compatible with each other and we have a really good shot,” Hansel said. “We have a lot of team chemistry this year with each other, and we work really well together from not really playing with each other for the past couple years. Things just kind of click. I feel like we can win the league this year and have a winning record.”

The team will need a strong supporting cast for the senior if it wants to click on the court.

Coach will look to senior Shelby Logsdon for a shooters touch while getting strong efforts from junior Lydia Dysart on the interior. The 6-foot Dysart is a center who can dominate, according to Parrett. Even with that experienced duo, the roster is full of youthful competitors.

“We are younger and their chemistry is a lot better as a team, but like I say, we are young and it’s not a bad thing,” Coach Parrett added. “I have two freshman playing on varsity this year. That’s the first time I’ve ever had that since I coached. For a lot of teams, having a young team is a bad thing, but right now for us it’s good because everybody wants the same goal. This year’s team has a great potential. We want to win the league.”

When the bus arrives at Eaton this time around, the Braves will be better prepared than the team that lost 46-37 last year, according to Parrett.

“I was down two starters last year, so we had girls playing out of position, and that’s when Chloe stepped up to play the point. We had some of the post girls in guard spots because we were just down on manpower in general. I think we are much better prepared this year than we were last year to play them.”

The contest against the Eagles will begin at 2:30 at Eaton High School.

“The biggest key to this team is playing hard for 32 minutes,” Parrett added. “They are a special group of girls. I believe in them. The people that come to watch believe in them. I preach to them everyday, believe in yourself and believe in each other and these girls will go far because they are a great group of girls.”

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