Elmwood girls hope to surprise

JERRY CITY — Elmwood’s girls basketball team went through its share of growing pains last season.
After suffering through a 3-18 season, the Royals are ready to surprise people this season.
First-year head coach Skip Bateson leads Elmwood into the season encouraged with the improvement his team
has made in his short time at the head of the program.
“I feel pretty good with what we’ve got done and what we’ve accomplished so far,” Bateson said.
“Everything is looking real good right now. I’m pretty proud of where we’re at and where we’re headed.”

The Royals return six letter winners from last season when they finished seventh in the SLL at 2-12.
Leading the way is senior wing Emily Reynolds, who led the team in scoring at 10.0 points per game last
season. Reynolds shot 33 percent from beyond the 3-point line and made 66-of-96 free throws (69 percent)
while adding 2.8 assists per game.
Also returning are seniors Shelby George, Lindsey Heller, and Vanessa Schwind.
“Our seniors, they really took the bull by the horns,” Bateson said.
Juniors Reagan Briggs, and Sam Auchmuty also return.
“Those juniors, I’m hoping are going to kind of take over a little bit,” Bateson said.
The ability of all the players to contribute will be key for Elmwood.
“They kind of mix it up well. All of them can handle the ball pretty decent,” Bateson added about his
letter winners. “We’ve just got to work on our shooting, but I’m real proud of what they’ve accomplished
so far.”
Bateson also pointed to junior Liz Kreais, sophomore Sierra Beckford, and freshman Brittany Gross as
playing important roles.
“We’ve got those six and I’ve got a sophomore (Beckford) coming in that I’m expecting big things of and
I’ve got a freshman (Gross) that we’re going to work in,” Bateson said.
For success, Elmwood will have to improve its offense from a season ago when it averaged 31.9 points per
game. The Royals allowed an averaged of 51.7 ppg.
“I’m trying to get the girls to play better defense and we’ve got to cut down on our turnovers and stuff
like that from last year,” Bateson said.
Bateson looks to Lake as the class of the SLL, along with Genoa, adding that the league is balanced.
“Any given night, anybody can beat anybody,” Bateson said. “Hopefully, we’re going to be in that mix and
shock a few people.”
As for goals for this season, Bateson isn’t looking for a specific amount of wins. The program has
increased its numbers, and it’s all about improvement, he said.
“I’ve had a lot of parents come up to me and said that we’ve looked a lot better than we did last year,
so I feel pretty good about it,” Bateson said. “We’ve got a long ways to go. But as far as with the
small numbers … we’re making strides in the right direction.”
ELMWOOD
GIRLS SCHEDULE
Tonight — HOLGATE
Tuesday — at Bowling Green
Dec. 4 — LAKE#
Dec. 10 — GENOA#
Dec. 12 — at Van Buren
Dec. 15 — EASTWOOD#
Dec. 29 — NORTH BALTIMORE
Jan. 2 — PATRICK HENRY
Jan. 7 — at Otsego#
Jan. 9 — at Hopewell-Loudon
Jan. 12 — WOODMORE#
Jan. 15 — GIBSONBURG#
Jan. 21 — at Lake#
Jan. 26 — at Genoa#
Jan. 29 — at Eastwood#
Feb. 6 — FOSTORIA ST. WENDELIN
Feb. 9 — OTSEGO#
Feb. 12 — at Woodmore#
Feb. 18 — at Gibsonburg#
Feb. 20 — at Lakota
#—Suburban Lakes League games