Youthful Lady Knights face learning curve

Published 8:21 pm Thursday, November 27, 2008

With nine seniors gone, BHS looks to start fresh.

Bremerton is a new-look team in every sense of the word.

With nine seniors from last year’s team now graduated, including standouts Naomi Abad, Gina Ogazi and Jacki Hill, coach Daniel McInnis is working with a whole new batch of players.

“We’re pretty young,” McInnis said. “(But) we are bringing up, in my opinion, some quality young players.”

Sarah Streutker is the lone returning player with significant varsity experience — senior Kelsey Johnson has played some varsity, too — while the rest of the roster is comprised of either freshmen making the leap from middle school to high school or former JV players climbing to the varsity ranks for the first time.

But newcomers such as freshman Jalen Carpenter, whose twin sister Courtney also is on the team, understand the game and should make immediate impacts.

“I think she’ll be a big scorer,” McInnis said of Jalen Carpenter, a center.

McInnis admits he doesn’t know exactly what to expect — only two weeks of practice are in the books — but he believes the team can find success if it plays together.

“All these kids have played,” he said. “But it’s going to be a different dynamic, that’s for sure.”

And while coaching such a young team may pose a challenge, McInnis said he looks forward to the task after having so many seniors on the team last season. Many of those seniors, McInnis added, juggled college applications, possible scholarships and graduation requirements, among others, causing distractions off the court.

While he makes no excuses and understands the nature of high school sports, McInnis is eager to begin a fresh season with fresh faces.

“You have all these kids trying to make these decisions,” he said of coaching college-bound seniors. “Sometimes having a lot of seniors can be overrated.”

Bremerton isn’t the only team in the Olympic League to lose talent, however, meaning the Lady Knights might not even fall in the standings.

“Everyone else lost players, too,” McInnis pointed out.

Among the teams absent key players is Olympic, which is now without start player Pepper Fauna, who graduated.

So the Lady Knights, while certainly underdogs, may hang with teams around the Olympic League given the parity.

Bremerton opens the regular season against Class 4A South Kitsap on the road tonight. Game time is 7 p.m.