EASTON, Maine — Bryan Shaw enters his sixth season as coach of the Easton girls, and this one could be his most challenging yet.
Shaw has had a difficult time filling his team’s roster. Only two players showed up at the initial meeting and Shaw has had to do some recruiting since, but is able to field a team with eight currently committed to play.
“It has already proven to be a unique start,” said Shaw. “My first year, I came to a team of 26 high school girls interested in playing basketball and due to several things but mostly just low numbers of overall girls at the school, interest is down.”
He noted that there is large group of seventh-grade students at the school, which should bring numbers back up in the program as early as next year.
The Bears went 5-13 last season to sneak into the playoffs as the 10th seed, only to lose to Schenck of East Millinocket in the prelim round. Graduating were three key players in Isabelle Morin, an all-tournament selection from 2017, and fellow starters Delaney Leach and Paige Flewelling.
Being competitive will be a challenge this season due to a roster consisting of three juniors, two freshmen and three eighth-graders, but Shaw remains positive.
“I am liking some of the competitive matchups on our schedule because as we have seen in the past, winning a handful of games can potentially get you somewhere at the end of the season,” Shaw said, “but needless to say, we are young and carry little experience with the sport of basketball when compared to most varsity programs.”
Shaw said he will be stressing the fundamentals of the sport during practices, “in hopes we can combine enough of them to put together a complete game by the end of the season.”
“It’s very much like working with a JV program on skill development and IQ and we will be running very basic offenses and defenses,” Shaw said.
Juniors Cecilia Morin and Lydia Ferris are the leaders and bring in the most experience. Morin rebounds and defends well and will be looked upon for some extra offense. Ferris is capable of scoring in bunches if she is aggressive on that end of the court.
Kaylee Boyce came off the bench as an eighth-grader last season but is working on her footwork and will play inside. Junior Kassidi Hanson, who returns to the team after taking last season off, and freshman Grace Flewelling are others in the starting lineup for the Bears.
Kenzie Legasse and Makenah Fox are both eighth-graders who will take on reserve roles but will gain experience with plenty of opportunities on the floor. Katie Zarilli is serving as a volunteer assistant under Shaw and brings energy and excitement to practices and games.
Freshman Maggee Currie was just recently added to the roster.
“I am looking for gains and improvements, not just each game but each quarter,” Shaw said. “I will be breaking the game down as small as I can so that we continue to improve. Any improvement will be a success.
“Finding and taking open-look shots will be very important to our winning and losing games this season and competing in evenly-matched games will be crucial,” he added.
