Photo Provided PICTURED IS the 2020-21 St. Clairsville girls basketball team. Front row, from left, are Madison Sadler, Rachel Finnical, Annie Stroud, Macy Malin, Brooke Biancarelli, Mylie Gardner and Shae Brookover. Second row, from left, are Angel Heatherington, Makenna Moran, Kadaira Fordyce, Katlyn Gray, Sydney Miller, Alexis Thoburn, Megan Malin and Gianna Nardo. Absent were Lacy Tuttle, Jocelyn Zucco, Kendall Krock and Delaney Florence.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The 2020-21 season has started like any other for St. Clairsville girls basketball head coach Stacey Agnew … plagued by injury.

In his sixth season as the Red Devils court boss, Agnew lost his only returning senior in Macy Malin for the season long before it ever began. She sustained a serious knee injury last summer prior to soccer and will most likely miss the entire campaign after undergoing surgery.

Last season, senior Katie Strama re-injured her knee and was out for some time before returning, but not with the same effect she had prior to the injury. She also missed time her junior season when she initially hurt the knee, and missed her freshman year with an ankle injury. Several years ago, Taylor Henry tore her ACL and was out.

“We’ve had a bad run of luck with injuries, but it is what it is. I hate to say it like that, but there’s nothing, as a coach, that you can do about them,” Agnew said in referring to the rash of injuries. “Losing Macy will be tough to overcome at first. She was our only returning senior and our top returning scorer.”

Lost to graduation from the 13-11 record team in addition to the aforementioned Strama (honorable mention all-Eastern District) were Keri Klinkoski (all-Eastern District), Olivia Robinson and Emma Haley.

“It’s going to be a partially rebuilding year. We have no seniors and only three lettermen returning,” he said. “But all of the girls have really been working hard throughout the summer and the preseason.”

Despite being affected some due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Devils were able to get in two scrimmages.

“In the first one we didn’t have all of our soccer players, but against John Glenn in the second one I thought we did some good things,” Agnew recalled. “John Glenn was pretty big and we aren’t big at all, but overall, I thought we played hard and competed.

“We missed a week to 10 days of practice while being under quarantine due to COVID,” Agnew said. “We’ve also had a couple of coaches come down with it, so we’ve battled and battled. The girls just want to play, and so do we as coaches.”

He said the lack of height will allow the Red Devils to press more than in years past.

“We are pretty quick and should be able to press the entire floor,” he said. “We’ve got some girls that are pretty athletic and that should help. A few of them played soccer so they are in pretty good shape already.

“Our goal this year is to letter 10 girls and have everyone coming back next season healthy,” Agnew admitted. “We’ve got 8-10 girls that can play.”

Juniors Alexis Thoburn (5-7) and Shae Brookover (5-5) earned letters last winter, as did sophomore Megan Malin (5-7).

“Alexis is looking for her third letter. Started last year and had some big games where she scored a lot of points,” Agnew said. “She also rebounded well for her size. She will start at a forward.

“Shae is also looking for her third letter. She also started some last year but was the off-guard when Macy was at the point,” Agnew added. “She’s done a good job so far, but we need to get her scoring up a little more.

“Megan had a really good game in our tournament loss to Beaver Local last year,” the coach noted. “I think she scored somewhere around 20 points, so we know she is capable of scoring. She will start at the other forward.”

Junior Annie Stroud (5-5) saw some varsity time last season. She will be the starting center.

“She is not very tall but she is very strong and knows how to use her body inside,” Agnew said. “She will get better with playing time. We need her to score from the inside, but she is also capable of knocking down the 15-footers.”

Junior Sydney Miller (5-6) will be the off-guard.

“Sydney is a good three-point shooter,” Agnew pointed out. “She needs to work a little more on her defense, but that will come with playing time.”

Junior Kadaira Fordyce (5-6) will be one of the first players off the bench, according to the head coach.

“She’s had a good summer and a good preseason,” Agnew acknowledged. “She will get a lot of quality minutes.”

Also coming off the bench will be junior guard Mylie Gardner (5-4); sophomores Gianna Nardo (5-6), Jocelyhnn Zucco (5-6), Katlyn Gray (6-0), Madison Sadler (5-8) and Lacy Tuttle (5-5) and freshman Brooke Biancarelli (5-7).

Nardo is returning from a broken leg suffered last season. She showed no ill effects during soccer season.

“We’ve told the girls the way we start the season may not be the way we finish the season,” he admitted. “We’ve got a lot of girls that can play and I won’t be afraid to use them. We know they are going to make mistakes, but we’ve told them to make them going full speed.

“We will struggle at times scoring, but defensively and being able to press should offset some of that.”

Along with some of the aforementioned names, freshmen Delaney Florence, Rachel Finnical, Angel Heatherington, Makenna Moran and Kendall Krock are ticketed for JV duty.

As far as new teams on the schedule, Agnew started to chuckle.

“I’m not sure right now. I know we have two games that we need to reschedule because of West Virginia moving their start back to January,” he said of contests with Brooke and John Marshall. “But other than that, I couldn’t really say for sure.”

Agnew is once again assisted on the varsity level by Chelsea Nemeti and Tom Sliva, who also doubles as the JV coach. Moriah Agnew and Irene Powell lead the junior high. Stephanie Sliva is a volunteer assistant.