Lady Vandals insider: scoring to be replaced

VANDALIA – More than half of the points that the Lady Vandals scored last season were put in by a pair of players not back with the team.

Amber Bruno (563) was lost to graduation and senior Megan Godoyo (179) suffered a knee injury during volleyball, leaving a scoring void on the team.

But coach Michelle McNary isn’t necessarily worried about replacing them, because of her team’s balance.

“The nice thing is that I have, I think, eight players who probably can put up 15-20 points on any given night,” McNary said. “I feel like we are pretty balanced. I don’t think we will have that one go-to person.

“At the same time, we will have five people out there every time who I think can score.”

Senior Morgan Cripe is the leading scorer among returners after averaging 6.79 points per game last season, and McNary said she is the one that needs to step up her scoring average the most.

Additionally, the three sophomore starters – Madelyn Hosick, Karlie Bright and Makayla Tinker – should combine for more than the 228 points they scored last season.

Add in four other seniors – Kaitlyn Kershaw, Randi Evans, Brandy Protz and Kylie Sellers – and freshman Emma Meyer, who proved she could score during the summer, and the Lady Vandals have a good opportunity to beat last season’s team scoring average of 49.5 points.

But, that will only happen if the girls become a little more selfish and take shots the first time they are open, instead of passing to a teammate.

McNary said that passing isn't always a bad idea, but that shots need to be taken by everyone.

“I don’t really have anybody who cares if they score,” McNary said. “Hopefully, we will have someone every night who will step up and hit some shots for us.”

Tough conference

Most are likely predicting that Vandalia will finish toward the bottom of the South Central Conference this season.

But that might be more because of the strength of the other teams as opposed to the talent level of the Lady Vandals.

“I don’t know if there is another conference that is as tough as our conference,” McNary said. “I don’t know where we fall.

“I feel like we have the talent, where if we play the way we are capable of, I think we can beat some of those top teams, but at the same time, we may get blown out and get beat by some of the teams that I think we should beat.”

She said Litchfield and Southwestern are the two teams she expects to be the best among the 10, while also mentioning Greenville, Pana, Hillsboro and Carlinville as tough challenges.

“Every team will be pretty solid,” McNary said. “It’s a tossup, and anyone in the middle could upset some of those top teams.”

Last season, Vandalia was 3-6 in SCC play, getting wins against Staunton, Roxana and Carlinville.

Season-opener

The Lady Vandals begin the season next Tuesday with a trip to Altamont.

And though they handedly won 64-43 last season, McNary said the Lady Indians can’t be taken for granted.

“Last year, they had a new coach, and she was trying to work in her system,” McNary said. “There’s no doubt this year she’ll have things more in place, and they are always scrappy, so we’ll have to be ready to play.”

Following the Altamont game, Vandalia will have four games at the Litchfield McDonald’s/Niehaus Cycle Round Robin.

That starts off with a tough challenge in Nokomis next Saturday, so McNary is pleased that her team will have a game in before that one.

“It’ll be nice to see where we are at with Altamont before we play Nokomis in the Litchfield Tournament,” McNary said.

Other teams at the tournament at Mt. Olive, Litchfield and Carlinville.