The coaching philosophy was as simple as it was complex.<\/p>\n
Build for the future, but play for the present.<\/p>\n
Certainly the two conflict in some respects, but it was an ideal, a goal, a foundation to success that Brett Drewery felt was imperative last winter, his first at the helm of the Kent-Meridian High girls basketball program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to win, but we also had to get organized and look to the future,\u201d said Drewery as he embarks on his second season with the young Royals. \u201cWe had a lot of underclassmen that saw a lot of time last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kent-Meridian coach is banking on that time paying big dividends this winter, possibly enough to get the Royals their first South Puget Sound League North Division playoff berth since 2007. While Auburn Riverside and Kentwood are the odds-on favorites to run away with the top two playoff spots, the final three openings are as up for grabs as ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter those first two, I think we have as good as shot as anybody,\u201d Drewery said. \u201cThe girls will need to take care of the ball, but I definitely think (the playoffs) are a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
At first glance, Drewery\u2019s aspirations might seem a bit over optimistic. After all, the Royals posted a 2-14 record in league last year and graduated star guard Briana Shannon, who tied for the league lead with an 18.8 points-per-game average.<\/p>\n
How do you fill the shoes of your stop scorer and best ball handler?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t,\u201d Drewery laughed. \u201cYou replace her with three people. (This year) they need to depend on each other a little more than they did with Briana. This team has to play together because I don\u2019t have the big-time scorer.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is going to have to score.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the Royals don\u2019t have that go-to player of Shannon\u2019s ilk, they do have the \u201cthree people\u201d and several others who should be able to get the job done. In fact, four of those players \u2014 Desiree Guitian, Miriame Akpatou, D\u2019Andrea Parker and Alex Witherspoon \u2014 were among K-M\u2019s starting rotation for most of last year. And junior Aubreyana Anderson, who toggled between the junior varsity and varsity last year, may have shown the most growth of all and very well could blossom into that go-to player this winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is a very underrated player,\u201d Drewery said. \u201cI think people are going to start taking notice of her. She can go under the hoop, rebound and run the floor really well. She\u2019s going to be an athlete and, right now, we\u2019re kind of depending on her.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while youth remains on Kent-Meridian side, Brewery also is adding another wrinkle to this year\u2019s gameplan \u2014 a trapping, full-court, man-to-man pressure defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going with a base man-to-man defense all the time,\u201d the coach explained. \u201cWe\u2019re really running and in shape. We know there are going to be some bumps in the road, but hopefully we can iron them out here really quick.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
ROYALS: AT A GLANCE<\/p>\n
\u2022 COACH: Brett Drewery, 2nd year.<\/p>\n
\u2022 LAST YEAR: 2-14 in league, 2-18 overall.<\/p>\n
\u2022 TOP RETURNERS: Desiree Guitian, sr., forward; D\u2019Andrea Parker, sr., guard; Miriame Akpatou, sr., guard; Aubreyana Anderson, jr., forward\/guard; Alex Witherspoon, so., guard; Malaika Henry, so., guard; Lindsey Gonzalez, so., guard\/forward.<\/p>\n
\u2022 TOP NEWCOMERS: Molly Kirk, so., forward.<\/p>\n
\u2022 STATE HISTORY: Kent-Meridian last advanced to state in 2001.<\/p>\n
\u2022 OUTLOOK: Even without Shannon, this is a bunch that should see some growth this season. The key for the Royals will be hanging onto the ball and forcing plenty of turnovers. If the Royals can do just that, a .500 season and a playoff berth awaits them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The coaching philosophy was as simple as it was complex.
\nBuild for the future, but play for the present.
\nCertainly the two conflict in some respects, but it was an ideal, a goal, a foundation to success that Brett Drewery felt was imperative last winter, his first at the helm of the Kent-Meridian High girls basketball program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":12873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12872"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}