Lady Cougars gear up for season

With the high school basketball season opener late this month, first-year Lady Cougar head coach Marilyn Milton likes what she has seen.

“We’re doing a great job of reaching our goals that we set this summer,” Milton said after last week’s successful home scrimmage against Broome. “They worked really hard this summer.

During the scrimmage, she said, “we had the opportunity to see some of those things we worked on this summer actually carry over into the scrimmage.”

Milton said the YCHS girls were playing at a faster pace in the Broome scrimmage than the 24 June offseason games, of which York won 17.

“After the scrimmage was over, I spoke to the girls to see how they felt about things,” she said. “The thing I was happy to hear them say was there are some things they need to work on. They are always wanting to improve; those are the things they talked about first. Secondly, they talked about the things that they did well.”

The Lady Cougars open the season at 6 p.m. Nov. 30 at home against Union.

“I definitely believe that they want to win,” she said. “They are willing to work hard and they want to execute and work on things in practice. As far as the coaching staff, we were definitely pleased with what we saw tonight. We wanted everybody to play.”

Added Milton: “One of the great things about our offense is that we had great ball rotation in a half-court set. The pieces are definitely coming together.”

Milton, whose Chester teams won region championships and earned a No. 1 ranking in the state, said she told Lady Cougar team members that preseason rankings had the York girls ranked at the bottom of the region.

“That means that we can only go up,” she said. “Our goal is to make the playoffs. If we want to make the playoffs, we’ve got to play like a next-level team. We can’t play like the old team. We have to play like a team that’s achieving and moving to meet its goal to make the playoffs.”

Milton said a lot of great things are happening in the program.

“The girls are communicating with the coaches well,” she said. “They are communicating with each other on the court well.

Makala Love “is stepping up the defense. Our focus in the fourth and fifth quarters was that you can’t stop playing defense at the end of the quarter and let a team get back in the game. We started getting more transition baskets, which is what we want.”

Milton likes the team chemistry.

“The girls root for each other,” she stressed. “It’s that way in practice. We have to make each other better. They do it all of the time. We don’t have to tell them to do it. They just do it.”

Milton and the assistant coaches were able to look at combinations during the Broome scrimmage.

“We used different types of substitutions for specific reasons,” she said. “We went man so we had kind of like a little man team that we like to see. And then, we had a pressing team. I think we’re gonna be able to use all of the different defensive sets. depending on who we’re playing.

The Lady Cougars players know that their coach places monumental emphasis on defensive play.

“Stressing defensive play allows everybody the opportunity to play,” said Milton. “That’s one of the things that I told the girls early on. If everybody plays defense, everybody plays.”

Juniors Love and Meg McGarity have played on the varsity program since their freshman year at YCHS.

“We’ve played at a faster pace in practice and in preseason scrimmages,” said Love. “Coach wants us to go faster and speed up the game.”

Love, an all-region performer last season, said this summer is where the up tempo style of play began.

“We love the new pace and everything,” she said. “Defense wins ball games. Defense. Defense. That’s what we work the most on. And then the offense will come.”

Love’s positive frame of mind reflects the mindset of the team when it comes to playoff aspirations.

“We’re already in the playoffs,” said Love.

McGarity, an offensive weapon with her long-range shooting, shares Love’s sentiments.

“We’re upbeat and getting up the floor,” she said. “I think we’re gonna be very successful this season. The key is staying focused and keeping the up tempo.”

Asked about her play at this stage, McGarity replied, “I’m gaining more confidence off the dribble and my shot’s going good.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Lady Cougars gear up for season."