GREENFIELD — The names are mostly the same. There are familiar faces almost all around the court.
This year’s Greenfield-Central Cougars girls basketball team might look quite a bit different, though.
The Cougars were a young, inexperienced team with a brand new coach a year ago. They struggled at times but started to click together in the back half of the season, getting to double-digit wins in a 10-14 season that ended in the sectional semifinal.
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The growth has continued in the offseason, and this year’s Cougars are in a better place than they were a year ago.
“It’s fun coaching right now,” Cougars coach Bradley Key said. “Last year, it felt like there were so many holes in the boat, we were trying to survive without sinking. Now, we can do a lot of things in practice that can hold people more accountable.”
It helps having the defending Hancock County Girls Basketball Player of the Year back in the mix. Hannah Farrell, who has committed to play college basketball at Bellarmine University, returns for her senior year.
She had a huge junior season, averaging 19.2 points per game, hauling in 7.8 rebounds per contest, and averaging 3.0 assists and 3.4 steals per game.
“Hannah still continues to work nonstop,” Key said. “I don’t know if I’ll have another one like her. She’s special. A hard worker, competitive. We’re excited for her senior year, for sure.”
While at times last year it felt like Farrell had to bear a lot of the scoring load for the Cougars, this year she is far from alone.
Also returning in the starting lineup are senior Crystal Peterson and junior Addie Hill, who averaged 7.2 and 7.6 points per game respectively a year ago.
Three others are in the mix to join Farrell, Peterson and Hill in the starting lineup, as juniors Ava Antic and Brooke Herrell are joined by freshman Brianna McConnell, who started for the team for much of the summer.
“I think that we’re all going to have to step up,” Peterson said. “Right now, Hannah is the leader, but we’re all going to have to step up, be leaders and work together more.”
The Cougars will be smaller — starting center Lydia McIntire (8.8 points, 4.5 rebounds per game) graduated — but they will be deeper than last year’s team.
Last year’s Cougars went with five or six players most nights, in part due to injuries. This year they’ll welcome back Caroline Gibson, who played in a few games last season before an ACL injury ended her year.
This year’s varsity lineup has nine players who are expected to contribute. The depth of the Cougars won’t be their only strength, though. They are a hard-working group, both on and off the court.
“The nine out there, if you combine their cumulative GPA, it’s 4.011,” Key said. “That’s not a joke — I calculated it the other day. It’s unbelievable. I’m just really lucky to have all those kids.”
Greenfield-Central hopes to continue the growth they showed last season. They want to turn a 10-win season into a winning season, and they want that elusive sectional championship, something the program has only achieved twice in the past 20 years and once in the past 15 years.
“I feel like we’re working well as a team and have good dynamics. That’s something we lacked a little, last year. I think our team chemistry is really good this year,” Farrell said. ”We definitely want to have a winning season, a winning record. Obviously, we definitely want to compete for a sectional again this year, hoping to get further.”
The Cougars will open their season a week from today at home against Greenwood. They’ll start conference play with a trip to Pendleton Heights on Nov. 22 and have Hancock County rivalry games at New Palestine on Dec. 13 and at home against Mt. Vernon on Jan. 24.
“I think we can compete with most teams on our schedule,” Key said. “It does help having Hannah. She’s a game-changer. She can do things that most can’t. The goal is to get five, six other girls that can come in, play their role and do things to help the team. We started to get there toward the end of last year.
“This should be a competitive team. How high we go depends on how well we gel and how much we buy in.”
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Coach: Bradley Key
Last season: 10-14 (2-5 HHC), lost to New Palestine in sectional semifinal
Top returnees: Hannah Farrell and Crystal Peterson, seniors; Addie Hill, Brooke Herrell and Caroline Gibson, juniors
Key newcomers: Ava Antic, junior; Brianna McConnell, freshman
What to expect: The Cougars have the pieces in place — now it’s about chemistry and how they those pieces work together. Last year the Cougars managed to get to double-digit wins in Coach Key’s first season, growing through the year with a young, inexperienced group. Almost all of those players return, minus one starter, giving the Cougars a lot of consistency and familiarity coming into the 2019 season. Hannah Farrell, the defending Hancock County Player of the Year, will be a big factor in her senior year. But with returners like Crystal Peterson, Addie Hill and Brooke Herrell stepping up their games, along with some new additions, the Cougars are poised for a more successful season. They hope for a winning record, and they should get there. Expect no fewer than a dozen wins and for Greenfield-Central to be in the mix come sectional time.
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