Conference Preview
 Written by: Sven Alskog
1AD2 Long Pin Conference
PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Salmon River
2. Council
3. Tri-Valley
4. Garden Valley
5. Cascade
6. Meadows Valley
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chevelle Shepherd, Junior, Salmon River
Payton Branstetter, Senior, Salmon River
Chelsie Testa, Junior, Council
Brittany Schon, Junior, Council
Grace Ertel, Junior, Tri-Valley
Karli Hansen, Senior, Tri-Valley
Sophia Cadotte, Senior, Garden Valley
Khanyisa Morgan, Senior, Garden Valley
After a trip to the state title game a year ago, Salmon River hopes to withstand the loss of the inside-out combination of Maddy Tucker and Sarah Laritz to make a repeat run this season.
The Savages have a great duo in Chevelle Shepherd and Payton Branstetter that should help to make that happen, with both having earned All-Conferences accolades a year ago.
Multiple incoming freshmen could be relied upon to make a big impact as well, including Lotus Harper, Jordyn Pottenger and Sofie Branstetter.
“We have more players that are versatile and more players that are scoring threats. We want to play aggressive up-tempo on both ends of the floor. We have to improve our speed and quickness,” said Salmon River head coach Paula Tucker.
Beyond Salmon River, the rest of the Long Pin shapes up as a good fight for the other berth to the state tournament out of the conference, which gets 1.5 seeds this year, with one going to a play-in game against seed 2B.
Council’s junior duo of Chelsie Testa and Brittany Schon has the potential to keep the Lumberjacks a big threat in conference play, while Tri-Valley could be a sleeper led by senior Karli Hansen.
Garden Valley won one game last year and Cascade went winless, those two teams will hope to have big turnarounds after struggles last season.
|