Scott County Central Girls Basketball Preview

Conference: Scott-Mississippi

Coach: Matt Limbaugh

District: Class 2 District 1

Schedule:

Date Day of Week Opponent Location Time

November 25, 2014 Tuesday Oran Away 6 p.m.

December 1, 2014 Monday Perryville Away 6 p.m.

December 2, 2014 Tuesday Sikeston Away 6 p.m.

December 4, 2014 Thursday Hayti Away 6 p.m.

December 8, 2014 Monday New Madrid County Central Away 6 p.m.

December 9, 2014 Tuesday Meridian (Mounds, Ill.) Away 6 p.m.

December 11, 2014 Thursday Naylor Away 6 p.m.

December 15, 2014 Monday Chaffee Home 6 p.m.

December 16, 2014 Tuesday South Pemiscot Home 6 p.m.

December 18, 2014 Thursday Delta Away 6 p.m.

January 5-8, 2015 Monday-Thursday Delta New Years Tournament Delta TBA

January 10, 2015 Saturday Portageville Away 1 p.m.

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

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

January 20, 2015 Tuesday East Prairie Home 6 p.m.

January 22, 2015 Thursday Scott City Away 6 p.m.

January 26, 2015 Monday Woodland Home 6 p.m.

January 29, 2015 Thursday Puxico Home 6 p.m.

February 9, 2015 Monday Charleston Home 6 p.m.

February 12, 2015 Thursday Saxony Lutheran Home 6 p.m.

February 16, 2015 Monday Kelly Away 6 p.m.

Roster:

Player Year Height

Miranda Ruedrich 12 5-5

Maddison Avance 10 5-6

Nastassia Williams 10 5-2

Brittney Marshall 10 5-2

Johneisha Daniel 9 5-10

Shanice Gipson 9 5-3

Hailey Kesler 9 5-6

Brianna Ketchum 9 5-6

Returning starters: Maddison Avance

Starters lost: Mikaela Blissett, Johniqua Fort, Derien Ditto, Abby Ross

Last year's record: 16-10

Postseason result: Lost to Naylor 44-33 in a Class 1 sectional

Last year's leaders:

Points: Mikaela Blissett (22.7 ppg)

Rebounds: Blissett (9 rpg)

Assists: Derien Ditto (5.4 apg)

Team outlook

There is a lot of learning ahead for the members of the Scott County Central girls basketball team this season -- same goes for their coach.

"It'll be my first year with a very young group," Bravettes coach Matt Limbaugh said. "I need to grow up a lot as a coach as well and be patient with these girls and know that they are young, and they're learning stuff and I'm learning with them. It's going to be a day-by-day basis for this team."

The Bravettes are coming off consecutive district titles, but the loss of four senior starters has left them with few familiar names on their roster.

"It is a lot of new faces," Limbaugh said. "There's a chance that I'll be starting three freshmen and two sophomores. We're extremely young. I have one senior on the team and she has not played basketball since her freshman year.

While some team members have played basketball for Limbaugh or other coaches in the past, some are being introduced to the sport for the first time.

"This season is about learning and getting better," Limbaugh said. "We know there's going to be quite a few bumps in the way. Instead of getting frustrated we just have to take those bumps and get better and stay positive throughout the year and know that we are a young team and that time is what we need to get together as a group. And, like every team, try to be playing your best ball come district time."

While Limbaugh was open about his team's youth and the struggles it will likely face this season, he repeatedly said he was excited to go through the process of improving with his players.

"It's almost more rewarding when you see a girl that doesn't have the basic skills, and by the end -- the season comes to an end or you're at that final practice -- you see that girl going through the drills that you did early on in the season and she's actually doing it right and she's doing it well," Limbaugh said. "For a coach it's more rewarding how she started from the bottom and she definitely progressed."

District breakdown

After back-to-back Class 1 District 2 championships, the Bravettes will flip those numbers and face Class 2 District 1 competition this year in Campbell, Chaffee and South Pemiscot.

"It's very strange," Limbaugh said. "As long as I've been associated with Scott Central and my family graduated from Scott Central, I've known them as being [Class 1] basketball. It's definitely odd, but we're rolling with it and we're excited to be in a new district, facing new teams, new teams are on your schedule. ... Everything feels new, but it feels definitely different than [Class 1]. But once you sit there and go on the court, it doesn't matter what you are. You're just out there trying to play your best, and hopefully the best team comes out the winner."

SCC adjusted it's schedule to get familiar with its new opposition.

"We picked up Portageville, a [Class 2 team]," Limbaugh said. "We picked up South Pemiscot that's in our district. They're teams that weren't typically on our schedule that we picked up just trying to go against some of these 2A teams just to see how the style of ball is, if it's any different, how far away we are, how much we need to improve. Just different things like that."

Looking back

If the young players on this year's team ever need motivation to keep working toward postseason success, they won't have to look very far.

The four seniors on last year's team, which finished 16-10, started -- and struggled -- on varsity as freshmen and sophomores.

"They all started as freshmen. It was all freshmen, I believe, when they were playing," Limbaugh said. ... They took their bumps and bruises as well and came up to juniors and seniors and had a little bit more success. It's not every coach's way to lose a bunch of seniors and start over again with freshmen, but that's just kind of the way it is. We're going to roll with the punches and make the best of it."

He's also hoping that some of what last year's senior learned and accomplished will stick with this year's team.

"They definitely had to learn something from these past seniors, from Mikaela, Johniqua, Derien and Abby," Limbaugh said. "They got to experience winning ways again. That has to brush off, even if they weren't on the team."