Team Preview
Written by: Chris Langrill
The Bishop Kelly High girls basketball team celebrates diversity.
As in, the more sports the merrier.
“I don't think we have anybody on this year's team that plays just one sport,” coach Derek McCormick said.
And that's just fine with McCormick.
“I actually promote our kids playing other sports,” said McCormick, who is entering his eighth season. “I purposely don't do a lot of stuff in the offseason. There's opportunities for kids if they aren't doing anything else, but there's no pressure like, 'Hey, if you're not there you're not going to make the team.' If we did that we'd lose a lot of good athletes.”
And the Knights will have some good athletes on the basketball court this season.
Among those players:
-Gabi Harrington, a junior wing who will be playing her third season of varsity hoops. She was a First Team All-SIC selection last season.
-Molly Adcox, a senior who can play multiple positions. She tore her ACL last year and missed the season, but McCormick said she's healthy and ready to contribute again.
-Maddie Minnaert, a senior wing who has played three years on the varsity squad.
All three of those players were part of the team that won Bishop Kelly's first girls state basketball championship in 2013.
So that experience could prove to be valuable come crunch time.
And so could the experience playing other sports.
“Our soccer team is always competing for state championships,” McCormick said. “Our softball teams are really solid. So, a lot of these girls have a ton of experience when it comes to competing at those higher levels, I guess you could say. They have had chances to win state tournaments and championships in other sports, and that pays off for us.”
After coaching at BK for nearly a decade, McCormick said he really appreciates the way most of his players buy into a team-first attitude.
“Our goal is always the same. We kind of have a philosophy where we want the girls to play hard, play smart and play together,” he said. “We really try to be team-oriented and not worry about the stat lines and things like that. And I think that's why we've been pretty successful.
“I think we've won, over the past eight years, about 73 percent of our games.”
The Knights went 7-17 last season. McCormick doesn't know how his team will finish this season, but he will predict that there will be plenty of good games in the 4A Southern Idaho Conference.
“Our league should be pretty competitive,” he said. “I don't think, in the 4A Conference, there's a team in the SIC that stands out. There's some good teams, but everybody is right there with each other.”
|