Elmore County is ready to make a splash in the Class 5A Area 7 tournament today with Valley being the first game.
One of the things that has been a problem for the Panthers for the whole season has been the inability to start games on the right foot. However, that flaw could ultimately be what takes them over the hump.
For the first time in 14 years Elmore County is not hosting the area tournament; this year the honor goes to Beauregard. This gives Elmore County, barring results against Valley, essentially a warm-up game before taking on a team that has provided tough competition.
“I will say obviously we wanted to host it, but coming in as the second seed doesn't really hurt us badly,” Elmore County coach Kim Moncrief said. “Because this team is one that likes to kind of get warm before they play well, with that being the case, we will have a game that we get to warm up with. Of course, we have to win that game. It's not like it doesn't count, but I'm kind of glad that we're not going in there cold and playing Beauregard first cold.”
However, what the Panthers will have to face is going into enemy territory. The track record against the Hornets is in the Panthers' favor at 3-1 through the regular season, but that one loss was on the road.
“They are very even with us,” Moncrief said. “It's going to be one of the best competitions that we've had for the area in a while. It's going to be a great game, but we're going to go over there to their place, and that's a little different, because we have to battle their student body, and I'm sure they'll have them there because they did when we went over there and played them at their place. We'll have to have that, and we'll have to be mentally tough when we go there and then be able to execute our plans.”
In the week leading up to the area tournament, one of the main focuses for Elmore County has been on its attack. In addition to the typical practices, Elmore County is running scrimmages to simulate the game experience.
“For us, it means getting our outside hitters, which are our left side hitters, like Ally (Orr), Isabella (Fuller) and Elizabeth (Lyons), to hit more on the court like in different areas so that they don't track us and be able to block us according to where we typically hit,” Moncrief said. “We're working on extending their range and not just going in one area of the court.”
The Panthers will look for their seniors to step up in the area tournament while also leaning on the emergence of young players to continue to step up.
“We need our seniors to be playing pretty hard, that's who we're going to lean on, mostly,” Moncrief said. “We've got Ally Orr; she's our leading hitter right now, but in order for her to hit, our setters have to do their job. We've got some girls that are doing a really good job with that. That job has been split with Addisyn Stephenson, Addison Hicks and Addison Patterson; they all play center. Kennedy Robinson has come in and has been really good, really good sets as well. It's going to depend on which setter is getting the getting the assists for Ally and Isabella do their attacking that we're used to”
Elmore County looks to continue its streak of being area champions for another year, but needs to make it through Valley and Beauregard if it wants to keep that streak alive.