Chaffee Girls Basketball Preview

Conference: Scott-Mississippi

Coach: Darrin Pruitt, 4th year

District: Class 2 District 1

Schedule:

Date Day of Week Opponent Location Time

November 24, 2014 Monday East Prairie Home 6 p.m.

December 1, 2014 Monday Scott City Home 6 p.m.

December 8-13, 2014 Monday-Saturday Lady Red Devils Invitational Chaffee TBA

December 15, 2014 Monday Scott County Central Away 6 p.m.

December 18-23, 2014 Thursday-Tuesday Twin Rivers Lady Royals Classic Twin Rivers TBA

January 5, 2015 Monday Kelly Home 6 p.m.

January 8, 2015 Thursday South Pemiscot Away 6 p.m.

January 12-16, 2015 Monday-Friday Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament Kelly TBA

January 19, 2015 Monday Bismarck Away 6 p.m.

January 20, 2015 Tuesday Cape Central Away 6 p.m.

January 22, 2015 Thursday Campbell Away 6 p.m.

January 26, 2015 Monday St. Vincent Home 6 p.m.

January 29, 2015 Thursday Delta Away 6 p.m.

February 2, 2015 Monday Woodland Home 6 p.m.

February 3, 2015 Tuesday Oran Home 6 p.m.

February 5, 2015 Thursday Portageville Home 6 p.m.

February 9, 2015 Monday Meadow Heights Away 6 p.m.

February 11, 2015 Wednesday Charleston Home 6 p.m.

February 19, 2015 Thursday Puxico Home 6 p.m.

Roster:

No. Player Year

0 Dakota Pepple 12

2 Jordan Pruitt 12

3 Julia Sutterfield 11

4 Hallie Bollinger 9

5 Hannah Glueck 10

10 Kylie Wilhite 9

11 Lindsey Koch 11

22 Carleigh Burnett 11

23 Mary Beth Knutson 9

24 Hannah Seyer 11

25 Lindsey Harrell 11

33 Mattison Cline 9

34 Katie Glueck 9

50 Kaitlin McFerron 12

54 Molly Parker 12

Returning starters: Lindsey Harrell, Julia Sutterfield, Jordan Pruitt, Dakota Pepple

Starters lost: None

Last year's record: 8-14

Postseason result: Lost to Oran 61-25 in a district semifinal

Team outlook

The Chaffee girls basketball team lost four seniors from last year, but that shouldn't slow down the Red Devils, who return four starters this season.

"I've got all my starters back from last year except for the four seniors that didn't see a whole lot of minutes, so I've got all my starters back," said Chaffee coach Darrin Pruitt. "I've got a freshman crew that's just hungry and ready, so we not only have seniors and juniors, we'll also have some underclassmen, too. ... We've made some really good progress with the program."

Pruitt believes a solid rotation of talent should benefit his team this year.

"I think we ought to be pretty deep, and if I take one girl out for a break or I need to talk to someone, we're not going to miss a step. That's something we haven't had in the past," Pruitt said. "A fourth of our practices are conditioning, so it's how we've been doing this. We're going to be shuffling around some positions this year. We've got some tall girls that have extended their game, so they'll be able to shoot outside. We've got some guards that have really worked on their ball-handling and can really get to the bucket, so we should be a completely different team than what we had last year."

"We're not going to be about one person. We're going to be 10 kids on a varsity team going out there. If we need to take a shooter out, I can put another one in. If we need to go fast, I can put in five guards. If we need to be tall, I can put in tall players. We just have that depth, and I'm blessed to have these kids."

Lindsey Harrell, Julia Sutterfield, Jordan Pruitt and Dakota Pepple are Chaffee's returning starters from a season ago.

The Red Devils will have five freshmen that should play a role, but Pruitt said he will need to rely on his more experienced players first and foremost.

"I can't depend on the freshmen too much. I need to depend on the maturity of the older girls as well, but luckily we've got that," Pruitt said. "My freshmen, as great as they are, I think they'll be ready by the end of the season, but I don't want to lean on them too hard because when you go into varsity play, you kind of get nervous at first."

District breakdown

Chaffee will head to the four-team Class 2 District 1, which also features Campbell, Scott County Central and South Pemiscot.

Pruitt's already anxious about seeing his team compete in district play.

"I'm ready to get to the district tournament," Pruitt said. It's a long way away, and right now we're obviously not where we need to be. But I think by the time the district tournament comes around, we'll be there."

The Red Devils are leaving behind Class 2 District 3, which this year includes Bismarck, Kingston, Meadow Heights, Southern Reynolds, St. Vincent, Valle Catholic, Valley (Caledonia) and Viburnum.

Looking back

Chaffee finished last season with an 8-14 record and saw its season come to a close in a 61-25 loss to Oran in the district semifinals.

But Pruitt believes last year was more of a building block for what the Red Devils might be capable of accomplishing this season.

"We were building some players up and getting them prepared for this year, and I think we did a good job of that," Pruitt said. "I kind of believe we are ready to embrace any challenges we will face. ... I think we're ready for that next step, and I tell the girls every day, 'It's our turn.'"

-- Trent Singer