Roles to change, lineup still unconfirmed

BY JOEY BASKERVILLE
joey.baskerville@gmail.com

Change has come for the Highland women's basketball team.

And no, it's not just that Jackie Barton is no longer there.

Some of the Cougar players themselves will have to change the way they played last year or during high school.

Freshman Courtney Shiffer has been asked to play more from the outside and play the 3 position this year. Shiffer played forward or center for throughout her high school career with the Freeport Pretzels.

"I'm asking her to jump to the 3 this year," Highland coach Dean Buckwalter said. "And she loves it. She absolutely loves it. But that means that she'll have to guard someone that's a little bit quicker.

"But she hasn't missed a beat. Oh, she's just a phenomenal athlete."

This shouldn't be that much of a surprise, considering how well she's moved in the paint with Freeport.

I belive Shiffer is too slinder to be an effective power forward at the JUCO level and since she wants to play at a D-I program, this is probably her best shot.

I haven't seen Shiffer take a bunch of outside shots while a Pretzel, that doesn't mean she can't shoot.

Only in warmups have I seen her shoot 3s and she's made some, so perhaps it just wasn't used because girls like Katie Norman, Kelsey Hoefer and Caitlin Greene were the girls to take those deep outside attempts.

We may finally find out just how underrated Shiffer really has been all this time.

As mentioned on the Journal-Standard, Mallory Magee's role will change as well. Magee is now the team's most versitile play with Jackie Barton now at Western Illinois University.

"We're going to ask her to do a lot of scoring," Buckwalter said. "I think with her and Suporia (Dickens), it's going to open everybody else up."

In all likelihood, Dickens will be asked to do what she does best: drive to the basket.
"Suporia, we went to a jamboree and she looks pretty much unstopable," Buckwalter said. "She gets tired fast, but going to the basket, she hasn't been stopped yet.
"I'm putting in offensive plays just for her."

And now ... your starting lineup ... sort of

When I asked Buckwalter what his starting lineup would be -- something I've been pondering since all the recruits were signed -- he wasn't too sure, but had an idea.

"I don't have a clue Joey!" Buckwalter joked. "I've been racking my brain for the last three days. I've got 10 great players and two were out for volleyball and one fits in perfect.
"I'm probably going to go with Lexi (Alexia Tann), Suporia, Mallory, Renee and Shiff. That's my best defensive team, I think. That's probably the way I'm going against Malcolm X (on Friday)."

I was, admittedly surprised that Deuth would get the nod over new center Ashanti Walker, but Buckwalter said that she's "coming on" to coming back around.

The listed 6-foot-1 forward could still need more work to fit into the offense, play on the defensive end and make this team lethal in this region.

"Ashanti Walker is coming on. She's coming off that blown out knee a couple of years ago," Buckwalter said. "And it's taking her a while to come around. But, she's starting to get her confidence back.

"You could tell she hadn't been on the court in a while, so I think the more she plays, she'll get any better. She's great athlete with a nice shot.

"She's kind of a leader in her own way."

Buckwalter still left the door open for if things change.

"That (the lineup) could change," Buckwalter said. "Ashanti's right there. Taylor (Gallentine's) right there. And Nicole (Olson's) right there. I could start all three at any time.

"If teams are playing zone, I won't have a problem starting Nicole in there at all. We'll see how it goes."