Val T.

Nov 55 min read

Argos girls basketball preview: Redinger’s gone, but Lady Dragons return 3 starters for new coach Jennings

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Morgyn Barcus Alydiah Leed

ARGOS — The post-Samantha Redinger era of Argos girls basketball starts now.

So does the post-Scott Jennings era.

So does the post-Hoosier Plains Conference era.

Redinger had a highly decorated senior season – state player of the week honors and RTC Co-Player of the Year honors included.

She had multiple 50-point games, including a school-record 55 in a 79-54 win over Oregon-Davis on senior night.

Argos finished a 10-13 season with a loss to Triton in the sectional semifinals. While Redinger has since matriculated to Manchester University and Aleasia Sarver, another key contributor, has also graduated, the other four starters for Argos in that game – Morgyn Barcus, Alydiah Leed, Leah Pizzuto and Ellie Bollenbacher – are back.

They will take direction from new coach Brian Jennings, who replaced older brother Scott Jennings as coach. Brian Jennings, a 1986 Argos grad, guided Rochester to sectional titles in 2020 and 2021 at his previous coaching stop.

He said the team has “a big learning curve” without Redinger.

“Some of the other girls get to a point where they’re just watching,” Brian Jennings said of the adjustment for the returning girls now that Redinger is gone. “And Sam was a good player to watch. You don’t intend to just stand and watch, but sometimes that happens. We’ve been stressing now it’s their turn. Now there’s going to be more shots. Sam took a lot of shots and was a great shooter, but now they have more opportunities, and they’ve got to learn to recognize the opportunities and take the opportunities now.”

Two other Argos grads, Dennis Calhoun and Alexandra Zechiel, will be on his coaching staff.

“It really was an important summer,” Brian Jennings said. “However, we’ve got a lot of active kids in a lot of other sports, and our numbers aren’t the biggest for basketball. So even throughout the summer, kids had church camps and other sports going on, so we had some open gyms. We got used to each other. We played a couple of different shootouts. Went to the Warsaw league a couple of nights and played over there. We used the summer more as a let’s see-what-we-have. We just used more of a four-out (offense), trying to get people to drive, trying to get people to shoot, seeing what we can do defensively.

“And now that we’re starting the season, it’s OK, let’s put in all the plays. Let’s put in the different defenses. There’s been a lot of learning going on right now.”

Barcus and Leed are the returning starters at guard.

Jennings said Barcus needs to look to score more.

“She’ll probably continue to some extent in that role, but again, we’ve got to get her some more open shots,” Jennings said. “She’ll probably share that duty a little bit. She’ll be out there some. We can make her a threat there. We can put her off the ball and make her a threat there. I’m really surprised at how well she shoots the basketball.”

Barcus also said she will need to look score more.

“I think that coming from my junior year up to my senior year, I’m going to have to step up a lot,” Barcus said. “And I’ll have to start making more plays happen. Of course, Gale (Sarver) and Sam were a great help to the team, but I think my role will be stepping up and providing more for my teammates and trying to make plays happen.”

Leed also said she will need to take more of a leadership role.

“When the team’s down, I need to help pick them back up,” Leed said. “Me and Morgyn need to definitely work on getting shots up. It was definitely hard that we lost Sam last year, so we’re definitely going to need to step up as a team and try and get those shots for our other teammates too.”

Leed, who is listed at 5-6, can also shoot from the perimeter, but Jennings said she can fill another role.

“We don’t have a whole lot of size, but I’m going to use that strength,” Jennings said. “She may play a post for me at times. She’s not the tallest, so sometimes, I hope she has matchups with maybe a guard guarding her where we can take her down low and post her up. She shoots the ball really well. … She’s worked really hard on her shot over the summer. I think she’s more consistent with it, so she gives us a 3-point threat as well.”

Bollenbacher, Alysa Bowering, Lexi Gibson and Grace Thomas are the four juniors in the program. Thomas is recovering from a knee injury and will not be available at the start of the season.

The 5-8 Bollenbacher is Argos’ most experienced frontcourt player.

“What we’ve been working on is her footwork and agility, and I think she did a really good job this summer,” Jennings said. “I thought she looked really good on the soccer field this fall as far as movement and agility and being able to step out and hit that 15-foot shot also. She’s going to be an undersized post player. She did a real good job of speed and agility on the tests and stuff that we’ve done in practice. She’s got an uphill battle to climb being an undersized post, but she’s physical, and she will get the job done.”

Jennings described Pizzuto as “fast” and “good on the defensive end” while also praising her ballhandling. Gibson could play a similar role.

In addition to Pizzuto, other sophomores include Ella Dean, Mak Smith, Kinzlee Kelly, Ava VanDerWeele and Haley Shafer. Jennings admitted “it’s not looking good” for Shafer as she tries to recuperate from a knee injury suffered during soccer season.

“I think Ava VanDerWeele may be our next best shooter but needs to work on that speed and agility on the defensive end like most sophomores need to do,” Jennings said. “Kinzlee Kelly plays hard-nosed but will be an undersized post player for us at this point. Decent ballhandler, can maybe step out and play a little bit of a guard. … Mak, very intelligent player, needs experience. Handles the ball OK, can play inside a little bit OK. Still undersized compared to other teams but rather tall for us.

“The sophomore class, like most sophomore classes, just needs experience, and they’re going to get thrown into the fire.”

Argos also moves from the Hoosier Plains Conference to the Hoosier North, adding further meaning to games with well-known rivals like Culver, Triton, Caston and Oregon-Davis.

Argos girls basketball schedule

Nov. 5 – at Bremen, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 7 – vs. Jimtown, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 9 – vs. Culver Academy, 6:30 p.m.

Nov. 12 – vs Triton, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 16 – at Elkhart Christian, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 19 – at Caston, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 22 – vs. Trinity Greenlawn, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 26 – at Culver, 7 p.m.

Nov. 30 – at Bethany Christian, 2 p.m.

Dec. 5 – vs. North Judson, 8 p.m.

Dec. 7 – at West Central, 7:30 p.m.