By TRACY WATSON

For The Times Leader

SHADYSIDE – With six returners who logged good minutes a season ago, a pair of senior building blocks to work around, Coach Serge Gentile’s Shadyside team is looking to hit the floor running in 2022.

The Lady Tigers will be led by senior do-it-all Gentry Brown (5-9, forward), who is coming off a junior campaign that saw her earn first team All-District, second-team All-OVAC and honorable mention All-Ohio awards.

She will be joined by classmate Rylie Fulton (5-7, guard), who was a second-team All-District honoree.

The third member of this group is junior Macy Hendershot (5-10, guard), another second-team All-District mention.

“I feel confident watching them practice that they are going to get better and better each and every day,” Gentile admitted. “We have six returning varsity players and we need to look to build off of that.

“Gentry is just one heck of an athlete and does everything so hard-nosed. She really battles on both ends of the court on every possession. But we are going to ask her to be more involved in the offense this season.

“As a whole we are going to need to lean on seniors, especially Gentry and Riley, and let their experience guide us.”

Juniors who are all back are Kaelee Stewart (5-6, forward), Maggie Sims (5-7, forward), Taylor Fulton (5-6, guard) and Makenzie Zdunczyk (5-6, forward) along with senior Mary Smith (5-7, guard).

The only sophomore on the roster is Valerie Boltz (5-9, forward) while a large group of freshmen includes Ali Weatherson (5-6, guard), Aubrey Nippert (5-7, forward), Sophie Boltz (5-11, forward), Malaya McAngues (5-5, guard), Kaci Tsoras (5-6, guard) and Jourdan Walker (5-8, forward).

“Our goal is going to be to treat everything like a marathon and not a sprint,” Gentile added. “We want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season. If we can be competitive, clean up mistakes and play together we will be more than prepared when game 23 rolls around.”

The Tigers opened the season with a heartbreaking, one-point loss at Martins Ferry to begin a three-game road swing that includes trips to Frontier and Monroe Central before the home opener with Bridgeport on Wednesday.

Shadyside is coming off a 5-13 campaign in which it won a first round sectional game being falling in their second outing.