BETHALTO - The Civic Memorial High School girls' basketball team will be kicking off the season this Thursday at Salem High School's 16th Annual Thanksgiving Tournament. For head coach Jonathan Denney, this tournament is an amazing opportunity for his team to knock some of nerves that come with the start of a new season away.
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"Thursday, we hook up with Carlyle and the other two pool games this Saturday are Althoff and Teutopolis," Denney said. "We're going to find out Saturday which way we have got to head this season.
"Hopefully, we can play a couple of good games against some good programs and come out with the pool championship."
Last year, the Lady Eagles closed out their season with a record of 22-11 and earned the title of 3A Regional Champions.
The keys to this team's success this season is their depth and rotation early on, Denney said.
“We just need to make sure that our depth and rotation early in the season is experienced and ready to go," he said. "We have Allie [Troeckler] and Alaira Tyus and Kaylee Eaton back with a ton of experience over the last three years."
Adding to that experience are the "unproven" juniors and some sophomores and freshman who are fighting to get into the mix as well.
"We want to make sure that we can get that good experience early in the season and we're sure to battle test it in the Salem Tournament," Denney said.
After their bout in Salem, Civic Memorial will host Waterloo, Mater Dei, Taylorville, Collinsville and Highland before traveling to the Jersey Community High School Holiday Tournament. In their only away game of the season prior to the JCHS tourney, the Lady Eagles will travel to Triad to face the Knights on Dec. 5.
“After the Salem tournament, we end up playing five of the six at home right before Christmas," Denney said. "That’s a great opportunity for the girls to get some confidence and hopefully get some wins to head into 2016.”
Freshmen Jenna Christeson, Anna Hall and Kourtland Tyus will be joining the varsity squad. Mackenzie Cato and Kaylee Klaustermeier return to the team as sophomores while Monica Baker, Eaton, Tori Pfeifer, Hannah Schmidt and Alaira Tyus join the upper class as juniors. Annika Ochs and Allie Troeckler close out the varsity roster and will be leading the team as seniors.
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