Virgin takes over Lady Rockets program
Jefferson-Morgan girls basketball players have a familiar face guiding them this season.
Brian Virgin takes over the Lady Rockets after coaching the junior high girls team the last four years and is hoping to kick up interest in the program.
鈥淲hen the job opened the school approached me and I approached them and we thought the same thing, that with me teaching there that I鈥檇 have a better opportunity to get the girls out, especially since I taught them in school and had a chance to coach some of them in junior high,鈥� Virgin said.
J-M began last year with just a six-player roster.
鈥淲e have 11 out now so we got our numbers up a little bit,鈥� Virgin said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e young.鈥�
Jefferson-Morgan lost two starters to graduation in Bryn Boyd and Maddie VanDivner. Returning starters are senior guard/forward Autumn Gustovich and sophomore guard Savannah Clark.
鈥淎utumn鈥檚 a super athlete, a good softball player and volleyball player and she has a lot of talent in basketball,鈥� Virgin said. 鈥淲ith being a senior and all the experience she brings to the team, she鈥檚 expected to be one of the leaders.
Savannah has gotten better every year. She鈥檚 worked on her game over the summer the best that she could.鈥�
Filling out J-M鈥檚 probable starting lineup are junior guard Abby Ankrom, freshman forward/center Jess Torres and sophomore center Anna Uveges.
鈥淎bby played for me in junior high and played varsity two years ago,鈥� Virgin said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a super-nice girl who has some talent.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still working on the forward position but probably right now it will be Jess playing a little forward/center for us. The five position will be Anna. She has some nice height to her, she鈥檚 probably about 5-11. She didn鈥檛 play last year but she鈥檚 improved on her ball skills. We expect some nice things out of her.鈥�
Filling out the roster are six more girls who Virgin said will all see some playing time. They are senior forward Jersey Ostrich, junior forwards Molly Mylan and Emily Gipe, freshman forward Peyton Farrabee, and fresmen guards Chesney Hixenbaugh and Kaileigh Coneybeer.
鈥淲e鈥檒l probably going to run a zone until we get our kids up to speed,鈥� said Virgin, who is assisted by Lisa Olsen. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a great help, like a co-head coach, and the girls have a lot of respect for her.鈥�
J-M will compete in Section 2-A, which Virgin knows very well.
鈥淚 know a lot of the coaches and have gone to a lot of games the last couple of years, especially West Greene,鈥� Virgin said. 鈥淚 know that they lost a few players but they have a really good coach and they鈥檙e going to be right there again.
鈥淚 think another team that鈥檚 going to be real good is Avella. They have a lot of freshmen coming up that I think are going to be good players. I think Avella and West Greene are both going to be super.
鈥淐alifornia is also going to be strong. Their program is pretty solid.鈥�
Virgin isn鈥檛 concerned about where his team fits in the section puzzle.
鈥淥ur goal is to just to get better every day and show improvement from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,鈥� he said.
鈥淎ll I ask of them is to play as hard as they can.鈥�
The Lady Rockets (0-3) opened section play this week against Mapletown on Tuesday and at West Greene on Thursday.
They fell to Carmichaels in a non-section game last Friday, 64-33, as the Lady Mikes had three players in double figures. Emma Hyatt led the way with 18 points and Kylie Sinn and Sophia Zalar both finished with 16.
Clark led J-M with 15 points and Ankrom added 14.