The Laurence Manning Academy varsity girls’ basketball team finished the 2016-17 season with a 4-19 record.
Head Coach Gary Bennett, therefore, hopes the team can get into double digit wins in the coming season.
“We won four games last year,” he said. “If we could reach double digit wins, that would be a positive thing for us.”
The team will have to get past a tough South Carolina Independent School Association conference schedule. He said the first two games will be critical.
“We play Thomas Sumter and Pinewood Prep right at the start for the first two games of the season,” Bennett said. “Those will be two of the toughest teams we play and will really set the tone for the season.”
“The SCISA conference is probably one of the toughest around,” Bennett added. “A successful season for us will come from the talent we have on the floor translating to wins during the season.”
Still, Bennett isn’t above setting lofty goals for his girls.
“You never know what could happen,” Bennett said. “That’s why you prepare and prepare and prepare. I’d like to win the conference title, if we could. I’d like us to go all the way to state, if we could. We will just have to see.”
This is Bennett’s first year as the girls’ varsity head coach. He previously served as assistant coach behind former Coach Kendra Rowland. He was also the head coach for the junior varsity girls’ team.
“I teach at the school as well, so I already have a good rapport with the girls,” he said. “They know me, and I know them and what they are capable of. We’ve come together really well in the first few practices.”
The team has eight returning seniors in the 2017-18 season, having only lost four players to graduation in 2017.
“The girls who were juniors last year, a couple of them saw some substantial playing time,” Bennett said. “This year, we’re going to take more of a practical approach to the game and get out and run the ball a little bit.”
Bennett said he would be relying on two players for leadership on the team.
“Brooke Bennett is a returning senior and was our leading scorer last year,” he said. “We also have Sarah Frazier. She is a senior, but did not play in her junior year due to a knee injury. Both are extremely talented and will provide a great leadership role for the rest of the team to look up to.”
