Exeter girls nearly double win goal
By Kyle Troutman ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
The Exeter girls basketball team set modest goals at the beginning of the season, to win five games and keep from being the lowest-seeded team in districts.
Excitement is now building around the program, as the squad nearly doubled its win goal with nine, and Exeter earned the No. 3 seed in a seven-team district.
“We met our goals for the season and even exceeded expectations,” said Jennifer Young, Exeter girls basketball coach. “I think in the past five or six years, everyone has counted the Exeter girls basketball team out and just expected a win.
“I believe that is no longer the case. We showed everyone we could be competitive and to never count us out. Even when we were down, we never stopped fighting.”
The Lady Tigers never lost more than three in a row and at one point won three straight. Young said as the season played out, Exeter continued to improve progressively.
“I feel like the biggest improvement was team cohesion,” she said. “We finally started learning how to play together. I feel like towards the middle of the season they started realizing everyone had a part to play, and as long as they did their part, we were more successful.
“We struggled a lot with turnovers and free throws. Our free throw percentage did start to improve by the end of January, but our turnovers is just something we couldn’t overcome this year.”
Exeter strung together a pair of wins late in the season over conference foes Verona, 69-60, and Wheaton, 47-43, with the former being a highlight of the season.
“We played [Verona] multiple times over the summer and never came out with the win, so we really wanted to win this one,” Young said. “We lead the entire game and were up by 18 at one point, but then in the fourth quarter, we had multiple starters foul out and were left without a point guard on the floor. I think we were all getting nervous as Verona started accumulating points, but they were able to keep their heads and pull the ball out and secure the win.”
Exeter will lose only two seniors from this year’s squad, Natalie Crumpler and Makenze Shaw.
“Natalie was our main point guard for the season,” Young said. “I think in the beginning of the season she struggled to understand what I was asking of her, but by the end of December, she was starting to figure it out. By the end of the season, other teams had even figured out that without her on the floor controlling the flow of the game, we struggled. She averaged 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game.
“Makenze was my other senior. I gave her a goal for the season back in the summer. I told her I needed 2-4 points a night and I needed her to be the person calling the shots on the inbounds under our basket. She achieved both goals.”
With so many underclassmen on the roster, Young said there will be plenty of room for all to step into leading roles.
“Next season, someone is going to have to step up and fill the role of point guard,” she said. “We have a couple of younger players that could fill these shoes. The underclassmen as a whole bring a lot of speed to our game. I look forward to seeing what we can do with it next year.”
The Lady Tigers will also amend their goals for next season, upping the stakes.
“Next season our goal is 11 wins and to win the first round of districts,” Young said.
Three Exeter players earned All-Ozark 7 honors this year: sophomore Shea Hilburn, First Team All-Conference; Crumpler, Second Team; and junior Dawnee Sorenson, Honorable Mention.
