JOHNSTON – After completing an undefeated season in 2008-09 and claiming its second straight SCISA state basketball championship, a 15-point road loss at Augusta Christian to start the new season could have brought on bouts of doubt and discouragement.

But that’s not how the Wardlaw Lady Patriots’ deal with adversity.

Coach Jim Lisenby said the new season is just that, a new year with a new ballclub that must find its own identity and learn its strengths and weaknesses all over again.

“We’ve got a completely different team from last year,” he said. “We lost three starters from last year’s team and we needed to see what we have now. We needed to know those things and find our weaknesses now and playing soft teams wasn’t going to benefit us.”

The team lost seniors Anna Yarborough and Briggs Belcher to graduation, while Kinsey Parrish has since decided to concentrate full-time on softball.

Lisenby added that the setback to the larger school came with some positive aspects.

“It was a great experience for us and we came away with some positive things,” he said. “Losses are never good, but we learned a lot from that game. We were on the road in our very first game and they had played several games already so we were at a disadvantage that way, but overall we got a lot out of having played that game.”

The Lady Patriots will be using Holiday tournaments and non-conference games to search for different lineups and see which players step up during their time on the court.  

The team starts with center-forward Gina Easler (last season’s state tournament Most Valuable Player), speedy ball-hawk Peyton Baynham, returning point guard and the leading scorer in last year’s title game, Katelyn Rearden, and dependable forward Kara Beck.

The fifth starting spot hasn’t been decided, as a rotation of Kathryn Ginn, Amanda Burckhalter and Melissa Pacifico will all see plenty of time.

The trio allows the coaching staff some versatility on the court.

“We had Kathryn Ginn in the first game and Melissa is a center so she moves Gina to forward so we can do some different things,” Lisenby said. “We’re still toying with lineups and trying to find the best combination. Peyton has a nose for the ball and she can run all game long and she doesn’t get tired. With Gina, she has size but she has a good outside shot, good form and accuracy. We’d like her to be a power forward some this year, but we don’t want her too far from the basket either.”

Lisenby said Beck, especially, had made great strides since last season.

“Katelyn is going to be the leader on the court even as a sophomore and Kara is going to be called on to play some tough defense,” he said. “Working with her over the summer, Kara has picked up her offensive ability as well and she’s going to be able to contribute some more offense.”

Still, after dismantling Greenwood Christian in its home opener last week in a final more reflective of the teams the Lady Patriots will be facing down the stretch, Lisenby said that last season simply had to be placed its in proper perspective for this year’s team to prosper.

“Last year was a great experience, and going undefeated was something special, but this year has the chance to be special too,” he said. Coach Addy and I bring it up for the lessons we learned from it, but this year is different and this team has to find its own identity. Some new people are going to have to step up and find their own roles. We have a couple of tournaments coming up here in the next couple of weeks and we want to push ourselves as much as we can to find out who can play which position and who can step up where.”

DECEMBER 1, 2009

WARDLAW ACADEMY GIRLS  (39)
Peyton Baynham  11, Katelyn Rearden 10,  Gina Easler  11,  Kathryn Ginn  2,  Kara Beck  5
Totals:  18/54  3/10   Rebounds:  36   Assist:  9  Steals:  5  Blocks:  1   Turnovers:  29
3 pt Goals:  None   Record:  0-1

AUGUSTA CHRISTIAN GIRLS  (54)
Lindsey Jernigan  4,  Chelsea Brown  2,  Lindsey Banks  13,  Sabrina Tam  6,  Annie Cave  12,
Amaura Brandt  15,  Torie Lewis  2    Totals:  21/61   4/10   Rebounds:  32   Assist:  13   Steals:  13
Blocks:  4   Turnovers:  14    3 pt Goals:  4  (Banks 1, Brandt  3)  Record:  1-1

Wardlaw    12-  7-  2-18---39
Augusta Chr.    13-16-12-13---54

Note:  The Lady Patriots were forced into many turnovers in the middle quarters by the Augusta Christian Lady Lions.   The Lady Lions outscored the Lady Patriots 28-9 in those two quarters.

WARDLAW MS GIRLS  (2)
Rachel Sanders  0, Lauren Williams  0, Carrie A. Quarles  1, Ashley Bryan  1, Parker Wilkes  0
Totals:  0/14  2/6   Rebounds:  18  Turnovers:  31

AUGUSTA CHRISTIAN MS GIRLS  (32)
Rachel  4, Caroline  12,  Clair  2,  Anna  6,  Savannah 2,  Sarah  6
Totals:  16/50  0/0   Rebounds:  16   Turnovers:  12

Wardlaw    1-  1-  0-  0--   2
Augusta Chr.    6-10-  6-10---32

WARDLAW ACADEMY BOYS  (23)
Reed Moseley  2, Coty Courtney  7,  David Terry 2, Jonathan Graves  2, Graeme Dawe  8,  James Brumbaugh 2
Totals:  10/34  1-2   Rebounds:  18   Assist:  6  Steals:  4  Blocks:  0   Turnovers:  24   3 pt Goals:  2  (Dawe 2)

AUGUSTA CHRISTIAN BOYS  (67)
Brant Hurzwurm  11, Chris Cruz 6,  Michael Armour 8, Neill Surles 2, Evan Wells  6,  Cole Turner  16,
Austin Lewis  14,  Michael Clifton  3,  Tyler Robertson 1   Totals:  32/57  2/6   Rebounds:  30   Assist:  15  
Steals:  23   Blocks:  4   Turnovers:  11    3 pt Goals:  1 (Herzwurm)

Wardlaw       2-  7-  8-  6---23
Augusta Christian   22-18-17-10—67

Note:  The Patriots playing without two starters could not matchup with the much taller Lions.  The Lions controlled the inside game getting four blocked shots for the game.

WARDLAW ACADEMY MS BOYS  (17)
Russ Wilkes  2,  Ed Williams  3,  Dupre McDaniel  2, Daniel Wooten  3, Dylan Seaman  7
Totals:  7/30  1/6   Rebounds:  24   Turnovers:  20    3 pt Goals:  2  (Williams, Wooten)

AUGUSTA CHRISTIAN MS BOYS  (51)
Ryals  12,  Mursier  4,  Banks  2, Melton  2, Ashmore  4,  Daniels  16,  Whitley  4,  Jernigan 7
Totals:  22/49  3/7   Rebounds:  20   Turnovers:  10   3 pt Goals:  4  (Daniels 4)

Wardlaw      2-9-  0- 6---17
Augusta Christian     15-8-15-13—51

DECEMBER 3, 2009

WARDLAW ACADEMY GIRLS  (44)
Peyton Baynham  11, Katelyn Rearden  14,  Gina Easler  9,  Kara Beck  10, Melissa Pacifico  0
Totals:  20/61  4/11   Rebounds:  40  Assist:  8  Steals:  10  Blocks:  2   Turnovers:  11
3 pt Goals:  None  Record:  1-1

GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN GIRLS  (17)
Alex Thomas  6, Nicole Arsenaut  0,  Emma West  11,  Karla Sargent  0,  Morgan Vickery  0
Totals:  6/35  4/14  Rebounds:  24   Assist:  4  Steals:  2  Blocks:  0   Turnovers:  20
3 pt Goals  1  (Thomas)  Record:  1-3

Wardlaw Academy    23-4-15-2---44
Greenwood Christian      2-4-  5-6---17

The Lady Patriots jumped to a 23-2 lead and never looked back.  Coach Jim Lisenby gave all his players quality playing time.

WARDLAW ACADEMY MS GIRLS  (16)
Rachel Sanders  2, Lauren Williams  6, Carrie A. Quarles  6,  Parker Wilkes  2,  Ashley Bryan  0
Totals:  8/37  0/0   Rebounds:  16   Turnovers:  27   3 pt Goals:  none

GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN MS GIRLS  (10)
Shelby Estes  2,  Ashton Davis  2,  Jordan Batson  2,  Monica Cabrera 4,  Shay Lowery  0
Totals:  5/35  0/6   Rebounds:  14   Turnovers:  22   3 pt Goals:  None

Wardlaw Academy    8-4-  2-2---16
Greenwood Christian    0-0-10-0---10

WARDLAW ACADEMY BOYS  (61)
Reed Moseley  2,  Stephen Balentine  14,  Coty Courtney  11,  David Terry  2,  Bailey Pendarvis  2, Jonathan Graves  2,  Harrison Courtney  11,  Graeme Dawe  8,  Baylor Hanley  9   Totals:  26/57  8/20   Rebounds:  42
Assist:  15  Steals:  13  Blocks: 3   Turnovers:  16   3 pt Goals  1  (Hanley)   Record:  1-1

GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN BOYS  (39)
Joseph Argo  1,  Jonathan Mohajer  14,  Reagan Koschel  6,  Brencis Stanford  3,  Ben Marshall  6,  Will Hubbard 9   Totals:  16/48  7/16  Rebounds:  17   Assist:  8  Steals:  7  Blocks: 1  Turnovers:  20  
3 pt Goals:  None    Record:  3-1

Wardlaw Academy    15-7-12-27---61
Greenwood Christian    12-9-11-  7---39

Note:   The Patriots with their regular starting lineup exploded in the fourth quarter to turn a close game into a rout.   Stephen Balentine found his range in the second half and scored 13 of his 14 points.   Harrison Courtney played a great inside game in the second half and came away with a double double getting 11 points and 12 rebounds.   Graeme Dawe also had a great rebounding game with 11 boards.  Coty Courtney scored 7 of his 11 points in the first half.

WARDLAW ACADEMY MS BOYS  (13)
Eric Bittner  2,  Russ Wilkes  2,  Daniel Wooten  5,  Dylan Seaman  4,  Ed Williams  0
Totals:  6/37  0/2   Rebounds:  15   Turnovers:  16    3 pt Goals:  1  (Wooten)

GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN MS BOYS  (21)
Tim Marshall  4,  Isaac Evans  8,  Ben Pettit  3,  Noah Hinzman  6    Totals:  8/38  4/14   Rebounds:  28
Turnovers:  19    3 pt Goals:  1  (Pettit)

Wardlaw Academy    2-4-7-0---13
Greenwood Christian    5-5-9-2---21