Coming off of a 17-5 season, the Troy Christian girls’ basketball team has a lot to look forward to this season. With several girls returning, plus a skilled newcomer, the Eagles are preparing for their season opener November 20 at Jefferson.

“We will be awfully young with only two seniors and two juniors, with the rest being sophomores and freshman,” Troy Christian coach Dick Steineman said. “We lost our leading scorer from last year (Lauren Peters), but hopefully this group is a little older and a little wiser.”

“I was talking to the Xenia Christian AD and said it may be the toughest that the division has ever been for the girls’ side. We will try to do as well as we can and try to give Miami Valley a run for their money.”

Miami Valley is the clear cut favorites as they are loaded at every position, but the Eagles feel they can compete with them, and challenge near the top of the Metro Buckeye Conference.

Returning for Troy Christian will be senior Meredith Haddad, who averaged 6.5 points per game last year, but Steineman knows what she means to this team.

“She is tenacious on defense,” the coach said. “Twice last year she finished a game with no points, but was the best player on the floor due to her defense.” The 5-foot-7 senior is in her fourth year on varsity.

The other senior will be 5-foot-6 guard Danielle Thomas, who the Eagles coach feels will work very hard

Leading the juniors will be one of the top posts in the area, 6-foot-1 Hailey Peters, who averaged 11 points and eight rebounds.

“She had a good summer and will be a key inside player for us,” Steineman said. “She needs to rebound and score inside.”

A newcomer who comes to Troy Christian from the Cincinnati Trailblazers, a homeschool team, is Arden Kamentz, a 5-foot-10 junior with a high basketball IQ according to Steineman.

“She knows the game, and is a nice addition,” he said. “She will probably move to the point guard spot after playing post. She comes to Troy Christian and will help us.”

Key sophomores will be Kathryn Lee, Megan Haddad, Lauren Lavy and Rachel Winters.

They will be joined by freshman Kenley Blake and Ali Kamentz, rounding out a talented but young group of players for the Eagles.

“Everyday in practice, we just have to get better,” Steineman said. “This preseason we have worked on fundamentals, and we may start out a little slow, but every game we need to get better. We had success in the past and we need to ride that and continue to work hard in practice.”

 

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