Valley Lumberjills 2011-12 Girls’ Basketball Team

When Valley Head Girls’ Basketball Coach Larry Weekley retired after his 26th season, it was hard to find a capable replacement. But, Lance Binegar came to the rescue.

The first thing he did was to get one of the best Valley Lumberjills in the recent past to become his assistant, Heather “Up-Town” Brown. He then had a chat with prospective Lumberjill players and brought senior Dani Hayes back to run the point, where Brown played.

“Heather played college ball at West Liberty and had attended several camps including a few with Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee,” said Binegar. “She can do things that I cannot do and it’s nice to have women on board who can communicate with the girls.”

Not only did 18 players go out for basketball, but they are ramping their play up by getting in basketball playing shape and by running the stairs at VHS for 30 minutes every practice, including coaches Brown and Binegar.

Valley lost its top six players to graduation last year: Brittany Guthrie, Morgan Starkey, Tiffany Hayes, Heidi Shaw, Leah Morris, and Chelsea Underwood.

However, two-year letterman Megan Bucher is back this year and Binegar will have her and Dani Hayes to build a team around. Hayes doesn’t have an “off” button and she pushes the team with her play. She is a good shooter and, as point guard, she will surely get plenty of opportunities in a run-and-gun type of offense that Binegar learned when he played at Frontier Local in 2004.

“Hayes can handle in almost any situation at the point and is a great team player,” said Binegar. “As soon as she gets rid of some rust from not playing for a year, she will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Bucher is the team leader and is by far the team’s best outside shooter, rebounder, and passer. She loves the game and it shows, on and off the court. “Her play speaks for itself. Period,” stated Binegar.

Besides Hayes and Bucher, the Lumberjills have a flock of talent on the varsity to rely on when the going gets tough, including Holli Schell, Brittany Sivert, Samantha Thomas, Ali Haught, Jessica Ashcraft, Karissa Headley, and Annaliese Henderson. Fighting for the final varsity spot is Brittany Haught and Asisha Carter.

Schell and Hayes will start at guard, while Sivert will team with Bucher at the forward slot and Thomas will control the paint. Ashcraft will spell Sivert, while Karissa Headley will relieve Hayes and Henderson will give Bucher a break from time to time. With the run-till-you-drop philosophy that Binegar likes to play, the ‘Jills will learn to play each others’ positions.

Ali Haught and Karissa Headley are both capable players that can shoot the rock from the outside, rebound and play one-on-one defense, while Thomas and Sivert will be very good role players that are exceptional defenders and rebounders. Ashcraft, Bucher, and Schell are probably the team’s best outside shooters.

“We will shoot, pass, rebound, and play good old fashioned man-to-man defense, the same way that Coach Weekley has been doing the last 26 years,” said Binegar. “It is an honor and a privilege to follow Coach Weekley and I can only hope he approves of what I’m trying to do here.”

Binegar went on to say, “Heather and I are very pleased the way the girls have come along and we look forward to having a very competitive season,” added Binegar. “If we have a weakness, its our inexperience. Our strengths are the team’s ability to transition easily to a new coach, our conditioning, and the leadership role of Schell, Hayes, and Bucher, on and off the court. If anyone starts anything at all, these girls take care of it. Their philosophy is, ‘Just play basketball.'”

The junior varsity team will showcase the same type of offense and defense the varsity plays and seems to have picked up the scheme of things pretty well. Members of the junior varsity include Sammi Roberts, Sarah Bassett, Whitney Haught, Haley Fluharty, Alyssa Wright, Tasha Dulaney, Megan Martin, and either Carter or Brittany Haught, or both. The Lumberjill motto that the players say before and after practices and games is, “This is who we are and this is what we do.” It is a saying that Binegar took from the movie Rambo.

Binegar will shake it up a little when his Lumberjills open up with Notre Dame Nov. 30 at home with new warmup pants for the varsity team. The junior varsity game is set to tip off at 6 p.m. and the varsity game to follow around 7:30 p.m. Valley will then take on the Paden City Lady Wildcats in the Bob and Sharon Burton Holiday Tournament Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. then Dec. 3 in either the championship or consolation game.