By Mark Spillane
If the Cassville girls basketball team hopes to build on last year, it will all start with replacing Second-Team All-Big 8 performer Madry McKrackin.
“Madry led our team in scoring & assists the last two years. She was our best defender on defense,” said Lady Wildcats Head Coach Tom Hubbard.
That’s high praise, and a lot to replace in one player. To do so, the Lady Wildcats will surely lean on junior Riley Morris, who was second on the team in scoring (7.1 points per game) and first in rebounding (6.3 rebounds per game) last year.
Joining Morris are four seniors: guard Kyren Postlewait (6.1 points per game), center Lilly Harrison (5.6 points per game), point guard Maddie Boyer (4.5 points, 2.5 assists per game), and guard Summer Driver (2.1 points per game).
That experience should allow Cassville to find success this year.
“We will have four seniors with three years of varsity experience. Another strength should be our bench, we return ten players overall with varsity experience,” Hubbard said. “Most of them played significant varsity minutes.”
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Hubbard adds that Boyer should do a nice job running the offense.
“She has great instincts and does a great job distributing the ball to her teammates,” Hubbard said. “She also has the ability to guard the ball.”
She’ll be joined by fellow point guard, returning sophomore Marianne McKrackin. Coach Hubbard says McKrackin can find success by being more aggressive this year.
“She does a great job of taking care of the ball and running our offense. [She] needs to shoot the ball more.”
Sophomores Ashlynn Bryan and Jurnee Swearingen join junior Chloe Moller as the other returners.
Hubbard highlights junior Sharayah Seymour as a key newcomer. He says Seymour started as a freshman but did not play last year as a sophomore. Hubbard describes her at “athletic” and “versatile.”
Maybe she’ll be the player that Cassville needs on the outside this season.
“Our weakness this year will be our perimeter play,” Hubbard said. “After losing our best outside scorer to graduation, we will be looking for someone to step-up. We expect to continue to improve from the end of last year.”
Cassville improved from six wins in 2018-19 to ten wins in 2019-20. The Lady Wildcats will hope to improve again this year, starting with a home game versus Joplin on Nov. 20.
