Sides out to continue girls' squad standards

Sam Sides has had one of the best seats in the house for Jackson girls basketball over the past 12 years.

It was right beside Ron Cook, who stepped down after a third-place finish in Class 5 last year and ended a 22-year era.

For his 13th season, Sides has scooted over one seat to the head coach's job.

"I'm looking forward to it," said Sides. "We've had a lot of good kids to work with, and this year is no exception."

Sides will count on his final junior-varsity team to once again provide a boost to the varsity program. He led the JV to a 17-3 record last year and will look for talent from that team to merge with returners from a 22-9 varsity.

"Last year's team is gone, and we have to start over," Sides said. "I'm telling these girls they all have to contribute to be successful."

While five players graduated, a group of solid contributors return, led by lone returning starter Ashley Bartels, a 5-foot-10 senior guard/forward.

Bartels was much more valuable to the Indians last year than her 6.9 points a game indicates. She's a relentless defender, a good ball handler and shot a team-leading 81.8 percent from the free-throw line. She's the only starter that's reserved a spot in Sides' starting lineup.

The Indians also return senior point guard Katie Loos, who started last season before a season-ending knee injury in the fifth game. A group of players that saw the Hearnes Center floor also are back in seniors Linden Hahs, Jennifer Ferrell, Marie Oehl, Abby Weinrich, Kelly Loos and Jamie Goodpasture.

Loos and Goodpasture were the starting guards on JV, which also will supply sophomores Bobbie Jones, Loni Littlepage and Kylie Werner for varsity duty. Sides said the sophomores are pushing for playing time in a wide-open battle for spots.

"I think we have some depth," Sides said. "There's not a lot of difference in a lot of players. We don't have to count on any one person and should have pretty balanced scoring."

Adding to the depth is senior Jamie Ball, a 5-foot-7 guard who moved in from Texas.

Oehl is the team's tallest player at 6-foot.

"Other than Maria we don't have a lot of height," Sides said. "And we're playing St. Louis schools and usually they have 6-footers or bigger. We're not real physical, so teams with strength may give us some problems."

But look for the Indians to try to combat some bigger opponents with an up-tempo style. It may be Sides' biggest departure from his predecessor.

"I like to play full-court and pressure if we can do that," Sides said. "When I first came here we did some of those things, but the last couple of years coach Cook's style was pretty deliberate. Other than that I think we're pretty similar. We both stress defense, playing together and being unselfish."