By Matt Turer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Logan-Rogersville Wildcats girls basketball program has been searching for consistency at the head coaching position.
After long-time head coach Denny McHenry left the program after the 2019 season, the Wildcats have seen one-year tenures from Matt Bolger (2019-20) and Jeff Dishman (2020-21).
New head coach Cory Watts is ready to stop that turnstile.
“I promised [the school] that as long as they’d have me, I will be their head coach,” Watts said. “This is my fourth year living in Rogersville. My daughter is in fourth grade here. As long as my daughter still wants to play under me when she reaches high school, I’ll be here.”
Watts has been coaching his daughter’s elementary school team on Tuesday nights, but this is far from his first foray into varsity head coaching experience, previously leading boys varsity programs in the early 2000s at Chadwick, Monett, and in Portland, Tennessee. Previous to that, Watts was a manager to former Southwest Missouri State head coach Steve Alford, and he has since coached the freshman boys team at L-R.
“I’m really excited,” Watts said. “I’ve never coached varsity girls. I’m sure there will be some different challenges, but mainly, I will expect them to go out and compete and to be prepared and competitive. We always will want to compete for conference and district titles—that will always be our goal while I’m with the program.”
Part of the group leading that charge this year will be All-Big 8 East first team selection and senior Gracie Kibby (19.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 2.0 SPG), All-Big 8 East second team selection and senior Lauren Williams (10.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.0 SPG), and senior Kierra Clark (7.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.0 SPG).
“Kibby will be one of our leading scorers,” Watts said of the Class 5 District 11 co-Player of the Year. “We’ll depend on her a lot for scoring and leadership. We think she will be one of the best shooting guards in the area.”
“Williams will be a post presence for us and will be expected to be a team leader and a good defender in the paint,” Watts said. “Both of those girls, along with Keira, have a lot of experience and will be expected to provide leadership for us and fall into what I expect from them.
“Clark plays with a lot of intensity, is good in the post and can shoot from the perimeter. We will ask her to be an example for our younger players.”
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Also returning is junior Chayse Baron (23 G, 2.0 PPG) and sophomores Emma Spurlin (14 G, 3.0 PPG) and Sienna Clark (14 G).
Watts expected Baron to be a big defensive asset and said to expect seeing expanded roles for his two sophomores, with each being good shooters.
Logan-Rogersville welcomes four varsity newcomers in seniors Ali Icenhower and Ariana Langley and sophomores Chayla Perry and Raleigh Powell.
“There will be a lot of new roles for returning players from years past, and for us to be successful they’ll have to buy into what I’m telling them we need to get done,” Watts said.
The Wildcats are coming off an 8-15 season—the program’s lowest win total since finishing 7-18 in 2013. But that record may be a little misleading with six of the Wildcats 15 losses coming by single digits. In total, last year’s group gave up just 46.4 points per game and averaged 45.5 points per game on the offensive side—a differential of just 0.9 points.
Before last season, the Wildcats posted six consecutive seasons of records of .500 or better, including five winning seasons. Watts wants to get back to that success.
“We’re going to defend really well and control the tempo,” Watts said. “Whether we play fast or slow will depend on what our opponent puts in front of us.”
The Wildcats will jamboree at home against Kickapoo, Republic and Ava on a to-be-determined date. L-R opens the regular season in the Fair Grove Invitation on November 29 before its home opener against Ava on December 6.
