2009-10 girls basketball preview: Shoemaker Posted On: Friday, Nov. 6 2009 05:15 AM By Kevin Posival
Killeen Daily Herald

T his season started last season. In the midst of their tumultuos and disappointing 2008 season, the Shoemaker Lady Grey Wolves started working for this year and the word 'heart' started circulating around the offense, defense and locker room.

Now that this year is finally here, seniors Jasmine Dill, Meghan Love and Jade Norris lead a group of young players into the 2009 season and the future.

"Last year was just a new situation for all of us where we expected people to come back and they didn't come back and it was a mess from the very beginning," said Shoemaker coach Shauna Showers. "I think we kind of gathered ourselves together closer to the end of the season and pretty much the second half of district we pretty much said, all of us said, that we were just going to play for (this) year."

This year, like last, the Lady Grey Wolves are the underdogs of District 12-5A after finishing 2-12 and 7-25 overall, but they're just a season removed from their 2008 playoff season led by Danika Dale, the first-ever Division I girls basketball player in school history.

"To me, we haven't had heart in a while. Like Danika was pretty much the last time we had heart," Showers said. "Our heart was pretty much broken last year with everybody not coming back. Heart is what I think those leaders are actually bringing to the team. They have bought into this program. They believe in this program. They believe in what we're doing. They believe in us. They know we believe in them."

Dill, who will start the season at point guard, can play all three frontcourt positions and Love and Norris, though undersized at 5-foo-7 and 6-1, will be key down low and grabbing rebounds.

But the three are more than their positions, they are also the link between the 2008 playoff team and this year's team, which returns five from last year's team and welcomes five new faces, including two freshmen.

"I think they've talked (the playoffs) on their own. Not that eighth-grade matters, two of our freshmen were the district champs for basketball, so they have a winning taste in their mouths and our seniors have a winning taste in their mouths so, to me, that's factoring in to 'hey, we can do this,' Showers said. "Past experience, to me, is going to help our future."

"Heart, that's all I'm focused on right now," Dill said. "If we have heart, then we can get through anything. It doesn't matter if we lose or win, it's us getting better as an individual and as a team."

Contact Kevin Posival at kposival@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7562.