2017-2018 Lady Mavs Season Preview
By: Casey Marler
The 2017-2018 Lady Mavs basketball team welcomes five new players and returns five players from last season. The Lady Mavs prepare for their season opener against Pratt Community College. They will play Wednesday November 1, at 6pm on PCC courts. Starters include: Tahanee Bennell, Hannah Nealis, Kaitlyn Hodgins, Sabella Pernosa, and Violet Reynolds.
Introducing the freshmen players, Tatiana Jones (5'9") is positioned forward. She is from West Palm Beach, Florida. Sabella Pernosa (6'11") is also positioned forward from Barcelona, Spain. Abigail Webster from Deer Creek, Oklahoma is a guard with a height of 5'7". Chideyah Guyton (5'8"), from DeSoto, Texas, is also positioned as guard. Alyssa Cox is positioned forward from Ringling, Oklahoma with a height of 6'0".
Be on the lookout with these sophomore players: Hannah Nealis (5'9") is from Jenks, Oklahoma and is positioned as a guard. Tahanee Bennell is also a guard from Turners Beach, Tasmania, Australia. From Holdenville, Oklahoma is Kaitlyn Hodgins. Hodgins is positioned as a guard with a height of 5'6". Violet Reynolds, forward, is from Houston, Texas. Rebekah Hissam is also a forward from Aledo, Texas with a height of 6'0".
Lady Mavs opened the season with a scrimmage against Coffeyville Community College and has had two scrimmages since including teams Southwestern Kansas and Southern Nazarene University. The Lady Mavs will participate in the Mid-America Classic Girls Basketball Tournament at Lawrence, Kansas Saturday October 28, time to be announced.
The Lady Mavs will participate in the Red Devil Classic and will play away against Allen County Community College Saturday November 4. Another classic they will partake in is the Wrangler Club Classic and will travel to Odessa, Texas and will play against Odessa, Midland, and Western Texas College November 9th, 10th, and 11th.
Coach Krause is entering his 36th season as head coach for the Lady Mavs. "First of all, the biggest factor in this year's team is overall health. With Tahanee missing her first season due to a knee injury and Violet missing half of the season due to her hand, that put our team on a major setback", Coach Krause says about his transition from last year. "Also having our new assistant, Coach Phariss, I feel as if it is a smooth transition. Coach Phariss and I have coached in the league before and it is just a smooth change."