Girls High School Basketball: Takeaways from the Scioto Valley Conference's preview scrimmages

CHILLICOTHE − Basketball is back in the Scioto Valley Conference.

Well, almost.

With just a few days until the 2023-24 regular season kicks off, the SVC hosted its annual preseason preview scrimmages at Unioto High School on Friday night. All eight conference member schools squared off in four two-period games, providing a glimpse into what each team has in store ahead of the season.

It's by no means a complete look at how each team will stack up come the first round of conference games. But Friday night provided a hint of insight. Here's one takeaway from each SVC team following their respective preview scrimmages on Friday:

Adena Warriors: Mixing experience and youth

The Warriors have the advantage of working with a strong group of upperclassmen this season that have carried them through consistent success under coach Andrew Day. Now, a handful of underclassmen including Jacey Smith and Marly Halcomb have added a bit of youth to diversify the Warriors' portfolio.

With that mix of experience and young talent, the Warriors got to stretch their legs in a 33-9 win over Zane Trace. Smith and Halcomb each found their rhythms after combining for six points, and they were floated by senior Emma Garrison, who ended the game with 10 points and two 3-pointers.

"In a preview situation, we tell the girls we're gonna give you all the freedom in the world offensively, just attack, move the ball and get an open shot," Day said. "And we always want to play hard defensively. We tell the girls it doesn't matter if we're playing in a game for a league title or it's showing up for the preview, we want to play hard defensively. I thought our girls did both of those things well tonight."

Huntington Huntsmen: Finding an early spark

The Huntsmen still have plenty of time until they open their season against Wellston, which gives both time to prepare and a need to keep rolling. Coach Kyle Uhrig pushed the Huntsmen to play aggressively, and they found success in a 28-13 win over Westfall.

By all accounts, the Huntsmen had a successful night. Allie Baker led all scorers with 16 points and two steals, while her and Emma Hinshaw combined for three 3-pointers throughout the game. Both Hinshaw and Baker were keys to Huntington's offense last season, and Uhrig believes they'll provide further stability this year.

"It's no big secret, Allie Baker and Emma Hinshaw both returning All-SVC quality type players, and we've got to have big production from both of them," Uhrig said. "Good thing is we've got a lot of other girls that play really good roles. Our point guard play was really good tonight, I thought Tori (Smith) did a nice job at the point."

Paint Valley Bearcats: Building on a foundation

The Bearcats have two returning starters in Karris Dye and Sophi Stauffer this season, but the main priority for coach Tristan Norman is finding a five-player rotation that best melds with the program's system.

Still, Paint Valley found enough success to build on in the few days before the season begins. A 23-19 win over Piketon is a solid showing for a scrimmage, and nine points from Dye is a good start for one of the returning Bearcats.

"We're just trying to get a group of five on the court together that's playing together for each other and understand the process that we've got ahead of us," Norman said. "There's a lot of things offensively and defensively we need to work on, now we're just going to go back and start checking off the boxes."

Piketon Redstreaks: Getting the roster acclimated

Piketon graduated four seniors following last season, and as such will be want for new faces to fill those spots on the roster and make up for that offensive production. Coach Jason Taylor used Friday's scrimmage as an opportunity to get his younger players more acclimated to a game time scenario.

Despite falling to the Huntsmen, the Redstreaks still found some success. Freshman Laila Kelley scored five of the Redstreaks' nine points in the first quarter, while junior Abrial Johnson and senior Laney Brown both put up solid shooting performances in the second quarter.

"You see some of those kids kind of got the nerves out of them, so that's a good thing about tonight, especially now that I have four freshmen that have never experienced a varsity basketball game," Taylor said. "They know their roles, and I'm glad to see that kind of played into that."

Southeastern Panthers: A pair of leaders

The Panthers are a young team working through growing pains, but they've still got two standout performers bound to make waves this season. Morgan Ware and Gabby Pernell are both in their senior seasons, and coach Doug Hice is looking to the pair to act as the leaders for a Panthers roster brimming with underclassmen.

Pernell started the Panthers off on a high note after drilling six points in the first quarter and Ware added two points in the 34-23 loss to Unioto. Hice, despite the loss, believes the Panthers can be well set to take on the rest of the SVC once the season gets rolling.

"Both of them play well, and as a team, we'll play well," Hice said. "Then we've got like four sophomores and two freshmen, and that's our makeup this year. Besides our two seniors we're pretty young.

Unioto Shermans: Experience and depth

The Shermans return a bevy of their lineup from last season, in which they posted a 25-1 record and advanced to the Division II regional semifinals. Production was the name of the game last season, and Friday showed much of the same from the Shermans. Seven of their players scored in their scrimmage against the Panthers, and Amelia Uhrig led the team with nine points.

With plenty of talent to go around, Unioto has room to experiment with what works and what doesn't ahead of the regular season. Coach Jeff Miller hopes to round out any disadvantages opponents might try to exploit and even the field against teams that might have a size adavntage.

"We've really challenged ourselves in the preseason with some of our scrimmages," Miller said. "We did that intentionally because we wanted to see areas that people were going to take advantage of us, so that those are areas we can work on. We've got one more really good scrimmage tomorrow, and then everything gets real next week."

Westfall Mustangs: Bringing up a young roster

With seven freshmen on the roster this season, the Mustangs will have to accommodate to their young roster on the fly. Coach Joseph Patete considered Friday more of an open gym with a competitive tilt. Add in three players not present for the scrimmage, and Patete shifted his goal to getting his younger players used to varsity play.

Westfall's other primary goal after Friday is to whittle down its turnover ratio. The Huntsmen took advantage of turnovers throughout the scrimmage, and Patete wants to limit turnovers in the regular season to keep the Mustangs in compeitition.

"Sit down and guard and not turn the basketball over, that's two things we've preached since the last 16 practices," Patete said. "We've got to stay locked in for 32 minutes. We play really well in stretches and then we'll have a two or three-minute stretch where we aren't locked in. That's what we've got to get better at between now and when we open on the 22nd."

Zane Trace Pioneers: Keep in shape for the season

The biggest goal on Friday for first-year coach Josh Blakeman was to ensure the Pioneers didn't face any unnecessary injuries ahead of the regular season. The Pioneers have just three practices left before they open the season next Wednesday, so Blakeman is looking to keep his players healthy ahead of time.

Blakeman's main priority has been attempting to bring the Pioneers up from a winless 2022-23 season. They've got five seniors on the roster this year, and Blakeman has seen marked progress from both his upperclassmen and underclassmen through their first five scrimmages.

"We're working on everything, they've gotten better every single day," Blakeman said. "I'm very proud of how far they've come so far, and they've gotten better in every facet of the game. Their knowledge has gotten better. Just their attitude and understanding of the game has gotten better and better."

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Takeaways from the Scioto Valley Conference girls basketball preview scrimmages