Takeaways from SVC girls basketball teams following preview scrimmages

CHILLICOTHE − Basketball season is almost here, and teams from around the Scioto Valley Conference are just a week away from the first games of the regular season.

Part and parcel of the preseason are the scrimmages ahead of the regular season schedule, and all eight SVC teams met for a set of four intraconference scrimmages at Southeastern High School on Friday night.

It's difficult to measure how a team might perform this season off of a set of 16-minute scrimmages, but there was still plenty for each team to take away from Friday night. Here's a takeaway for every team in the SVC following their conference scrimmages:

Adena Warriors: Bench presence will come in handy

Adena enters the season as the reigning conference champion, and it showed few, if any, signs of wear-and-tear from the offseason on Friday night. It waxed Zane Trace 34-9 in the second scrimmage of the night, and it appears to be working like the machine it was last year.

Aside from the prominent starters, the Warriors also saw decent performances from many of their bench players. Sophomore Grace Townsend knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter, and freshman Jacey Smith drove hard to the basket when she had possession.

There's another week until the regular season begins, and the starting rotation hasn't been set in stone. But the Warriors have a deep roster, and they'll have a dependable bench presence no matter what.

"We feel like we have some girls that we can go to, we can go into our bench if we get in foul trouble or we have an injury," Adena coach Andrew Day said. "We have some girls that are ready to go and can step in to do the job."

Huntington Huntsmen: Plenty of players to work with

The Huntsmen have a dynamic three-player core of McKenna Thompson, Allie Baker and Emma Hinshaw that will prove vital to their offensive power this season. Although Hinshaw didn't dress for the scrimmage Friday, Thompson and Baker combined for nine points in the Huntsmen's 18-17 loss to Westfall.

Although Huntington fell by a point, there's plenty of positives to take away. Thompson and Baker both gave Westfall a run for its money, and sophomore Kaci Carroll performed well after putting up four points in the second half. Huntington has a solid core to build its rotation around, and it'll likely improve once the season gets underway.

"Our goal was to come out play really hard, as is the goal every time we come out and put the uniforms on," Huntington coach Kyle Uhrig said. "I felt like our kids did that tonight, got to see a lot of good things. They got to get the jitters out before they roll into the first game next Friday at Wellston."

Paint Valley Bearcats: Bringing up the roster

The Bearcats return veteran starters Kendall Dye and Averi McFadden to the starting lineup this season, but coach Tristan Norman wants to bring the rest of the roster up to speed. Six underclassmen make up over half of the Bearcats roster this season, and Norman wants the seniors on the team to help ease them into the rotation.

It worked on Friday night. Seven different Bearcats scored in their 28-15 scrimmage win over Piketon, and every player got time on the floor. Three underclassmen scored on Friday. Norman took a step toward working the underclassmen into the rotation, and they meshed well together thus far.

"We have a couple of workhorses in Kendall and Avery who have been doing this for a while, but we have a lot of inexperience at the varsity level," Norman said. "But they had fun tonight, they played together and they gave a good effort."

Piketon Redstreaks: Aggression is key

The Redstreaks took a minute to jumpstart their offense in their loss to the Bearcats, and nine of their points came thanks to senior Jazzlyn Lamerson. They were able to stall the Bearcats throughout much of the first half on defense, but they weren't able to follow up and keep pace in the second half.

Coach Jason Taylor wants the Redstreaks to be more aggressive. All four seniors on the roster have been starting since their sophomore season, and Taylor believes they have the talent to measure up to the rest of the SVC. If the Redstreaks want to keep up to snuff with the top of the conference, they'll need to fight to get there.

"Our girls need to be a little more aggressive," Taylor said. "Athletically, basketball-wise, we have a lot of skill. We just have to find that little bit of edge to ourselves."

Southeastern Panthers: Clamping down on turnovers

The Panthers were neck-and-neck with Unioto for much of the first half, and they even lead for a brief stint. Still, multiple turnovers cost them offensive opportunities, and the Shermans converted them into easy points for a 38-21 win in the final scrimmage of the night.

Coach Doug Hice's main priority in the weeks leading up to the season has been to mitigate turnovers and keep the Panthers on the offensive. Hice believes there is still room to improve following Friday's scrimmage, but that the Panthers

"That's been our goal from day one, get everything as clean as we can," Hice said. "Turnovers have been a big problem for us the last couple of years, so we harp on them, harp on them and harp on them. Tonight we went back to lazy passes and bad passes, and you can't do that against a good team. But I was really proud of the way our kids played with everything they've got. So we'll go back to the drawing board and get back after it tomorrow."

Unioto Shermans: New faces, more scoring opportunities

The Shermans are an grizzled team. Nine of their 11 players are upperclassmen, which means the future of the program lies in the hands of freshmen Milee Smith and Magnolia Holbert.

Based on their performances Friday, the Shermans will be just fine. Smith scored nine points on Friday night, which tied junior Amelia Uhrig for the team-high. Holbert only played in the first half of the scrimmage, but she still knocked down a field goal and was in the starting lineup alongside Smith.

Unioto has plenty of offensive power to work with, and coach Jeff Miller believes that the Shermans will have plenty of players capable of leading the offense on any given night.

"I think if you really look at us, what you should see is that, every night, maybe seeing someone else as the leading scorer," Miller said. "I think we're kind of one of those teams ... I think we're going to have six or seven kids who could be the leading scorer every night, which is a nice thing to have in your weapons."

Westfall Mustangs: Get the offense moving early

The Mustangs picked up a one-point win over the Huntsmen, although it didn't come easy. They scored just four points in the first half, and the offense took several minutes to find a groove against the Huntsmen.

Still, Westfall showed plenty of promise. 14 points in the second half, including a pair of 3s by Izzy Picklesimer and Paige Weiss, was a far better performance compared its first eight minutes on the court. If Westfall can jumpstart its offense and knock down baskets early, it'll have a much easier time during the regular season.

"I thought we played extremely hard," Westfall coach Joseph Patete said. "We didn't shoot very well tonight, but those will come, you can work on those things. You can't work on heart and playing hard. We do those both very well."

Zane Trace Pioneers: Young talent coming up

The Pioneers will be working with plenty of underclassmen this season, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Coach Demarco Washington rotated his entire roster in throughout Friday's scrimmage to give all of his players time on the court, and a handful of underclassmen have shown promise.

Perhaps the biggest standout amongst the freshman class is Carlie Clark. She scored a field goal in the second half and asserted herself on the court. Washington believes the energy Clark brings to the court will only help the Pioneers progress as the season continues.

"We kind of knew what we were going to get from her because she brings that intensity on both ends of the floor," Washington said. "She's a good ball handler, she's a hard-nosed player and, most importantly, I feel like she doesn't get tired at all. She has so much energy and she shows it."

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Takeaways from SVC girls basketball teams following preview scrimmages