Lady Hawks to shift dynamic this winter

DONNELLSON – The Lady Hawks' top scorer has left the building.
But Central Lee’s girls are in their fourth season now under Head Coach Taylor Hickey and the loss of sophomore Lizzy Mason, who’s open-enrolled at Keokuk for her junior year, opens opportunities for some veteran players including a bevy of “lanky” freshmen.
The Hawks compiled a respectable 9-5 mark in SEI Super Conference play last year, but just fell short of a .500 overall mark at 11-12.
Mason scored 273 points in 23 games last season and shot 30% from the field, but just 19.8% from 3-point range. The dilemma Hickey said will be for the Lady Hawks not to be afraid to pull the trigger like Mason. However, she said different players have different skill sets.
“The ball was in her hands 85% of the time for us as a point guard and she was able to score or at least get to the rim and go to the freethrow line. So losing her has been tough and we had to look at how we are going to do things now,” Hickey said at Thursday’s Hawk media day.
She said junior Macy Doty and senior Jayden Mueller are solid with the ball around the perimeter and will fit nicely into the one and two spots at guard.
“They’ve always been kind of our secondary point guard or shooting guard so those two will fill that role, but they havea little more experience so will bring some control to the offense.”
Hickey said Nora Lampe has potential to be the team’s outside shooter. She converted 34 of 118 3-pointers last season for a 29% average and scored 104 points overall playing in all 23 games off the bench. Lampe and Doty both had bench roles last season.
But Mueller could be the glue this year. The senior had 63 rebounds from her backcourt spot and will be the top assist girl bringing in 33 from last year, trailing only Mason. Mueller wasn’t a big scorer, only averaging a couple points per game, but played a facilitator role, keeping the ball in play and distributing from the top.
One area the Hawks will be looking to improve upon is freethrow shooting. Senior Kenna Sandoval got to the line 105 times last year converting just 55%, which was tops among the regulars. The team shot a dismal 47.4% for the season last year.
Sandoval plays among posts that are typically taller than her, but remains productive with her physicality and draws some double teams due to her patience and ability to move the ball out of the box.
The senior said the Hawks need to evolve every day.

“Our seniors were freshmen her first year as a coach and I feel like I’ve learned something every year. We’re always continuing to learn and gelling and teaching each other things,” Sandoval said.
She said practices are going well with drills and conditioning and there are underclassmen that will be contributing.
“We’re still working that out and learning to trust each other - everyone that’s come through here these past four years - so we'll be good there.”
The Hawks will also be looking to senior Taylor Jones for leadership and some points from four and five spots running wing and baseline options. Jones had a solid junior campaign, starting 22 of 23 games, contributing eight points and five boards per game. She’ll certainly be looked to for some points slashing to the board, but also be relied upon heavily on defense. Jones had 44 steals, which was third behind Sandoval’s 59 and Mason’s 132 last season.
Hickey said the Hawks may have a little new look this year with some height in the underclassmen. Ruby Larson, Brylee Cook, and McKenzie Daly are all listed at 5’10” as incoming freshmen. Kaitlyn Morrison is also a freshman and listed at 5'9". Cook showed strong athleticism starting varsity on the Hawks' volleyball team this fall.
“We're changing things up, we have some long, lanky freshmen and we're going to really try to be active in our offense, move the ball quickly, cut back doors and get the ball inside,” Hickey said.  
She said these seniors of Sandoval, Jones, and Mueller have learned a lot over the past three years and have the experience of that progression to share with the younger kids.
“You can see the strength difference in each of them,” Hickey said. “And that’s from going all the way back to 7^th grade, 8^th grade. Watching these seniors, you just kind of forget how strong and powerful they are and the reality of that is the growth I’m seeing this year.”
The Hawks have traditionally had slower starts under Hickey, but start to turn things around after the holiday break.
She said Mediapolis will be a solid team in the conference again, but as far as the other teams, Central Lee should be very competitive.
“Mediapolis -  you know they're a great team and they're going to be hard, but they’ll be fun to play again, but they’re a powerhouse,” Hickey said.
“But as far as every other team, I mean, I think we can do some really, really good things and the girls just need to be able to take what we do in practice and carry it over in the game. That's what we've been kind of urging this year.”