After an injury plagued 2008-09 season, coach Jeff Dillon and the Lady Pride have gotten a head start on improving next year’s squad with a recruiting class that has been described by Dillon as “really something.”
“I really do believe-maybe for the first time in a couple of years-we’ve recruited depth,” Dillon said. “I truly believe we’re gonna be pretty deep from (positions) one through 10.”
Dillon said that during the recruiting process he generally looks for players in the area.
“We try to stay in the surrounding counties,” Dillon said, naming Montgomery, Clark and Greene County as some of the few.
Dillon said he finds most of his prospects from people who know about the women’s basketball program at Sinclair Community College and watching a lot of basketball.
“I watch a bazillion high school games a year,” Dillon said.
Dillon has four returning players from last year’s squad including team captains Jana Gross and Jessica St. Pierre. The six players who will be joining the Lady Pride next season are Karen Smith and Emily Frey from Versailles, Shannon Campbell from Miamisburg, Haleigh Hickebottom from West Liberty-Salem, Shelby Pettit from Brookville, and Jessica Plummer from Troy Christian.
The average ACT scores for this year’s incoming class was 25, according to Dillon.
“(Those) kind of student-athletes coming into our program,” said Dillon. “It’s an exciting group of kids.”
Dillon said that the depth of this year’s team will lead to a more up-tempo offense that last year’s squad wasn’t able to execute with the lack of depth.
“We’ll be able to keep people fresh,” Dillon said.
Dillon is currently talking to two other high school students in hopes of adding to his recruiting class and is excited to see how well they work on the court.
“I’m looking forward to getting all these guys together and seeing how they mesh,” he said.