Preview: Park Hill girls basketball looks to find its groove with new coach

First year Park Hill girls basketball coach Aaron Neeser has spent much of the first few weeks of practice doing what most first year coaches would do. Instilling a basic philophy, observing what kind of talent he’ll have to work with, and emphasizing several key points. What Neeser knows he has are two returning starters in Kyleesha Weston and Helena Hudson along with significant minutes from Shelby Blanchard and Michele Rupard. This is from a 16-11 team that at times seemed to play better than their record would suggest. Combined with a number of athletic players with little varsity experience, the Trojans are hoping to turn their new system into a machine consisting of many moving parts.

“We’re trying to preach defense and rebounding first. Being relentless and going after every ball. Having the attitude where every possession is important,” Neeser said of the style he hopes to instill. “Rebounding, I want us to be the best rebounding team in the conference.”

Looking to potentially play up to 12-13 players a game this season, the Lady Trojans’s inexperience at the varsity level will have plenty of chances to be ironed out with a steady rotation of players. Kelly Cook, Leslie Coons, Sarah Sumpter, Beth Sullinger, Micalla Rettinger, Amanda Lawrence, Marche Belcher, and Dominque Broadus all hope to contribute to a new style of game play that emphasies speed and quickness.

“We have a lot of athletes, so we’re trying to play an up tempo, trapping type of basketball,” Neeser said. “We’re going to try to play fast pace and we’ll see how it goes.”

Even if the Trojans struggle with the new upbeat strategy, there’s one thing their wants it to teach them and that is taking care of the ball is one of the most important things.

“That’s one thing we’re trying to instill each and every day is being aggressive and being passionate about possessing the basketball,” Neeser said. “We will need to rebound and play extremely well on the defensive end to be successful.”

Park Hill begins play in a new and highly competitive conference this season featuring strong teams like North Kansas City, Truman, Lee’s Summit West, and St. Joe Central. The tough matchups haven’t stifled their expectations though as their coach began to name who he expected the most out of, but stopped short of the entire team.

“I could go down the list, we have high expectations for all of them,” Neeser said.