Barbers Hill has high hopes, strong team

[BHFAN]

Barbers Hill has high hopes, strong team
By Dave Rogers
The Baytown Sun
Published December 8, 2009
MONT BELVIEU — John Chancellor has high hopes for this Barbers Hill’s girls basketball team and they don’t all hinge on 6-foot-4 Kendall Shaw.

“If teams double up on Kendall, we’ve got the shooters around her that can make you pay,” he said. “We don’t have any one person for another team to focus on.”

The Lady Eagles open District 19-4A play tonight when they host Crosby at 7 p.m. Goose Creek Memorial plays its league opener at C.E. King, also at 7 p.m.

Barbers Hill is coming off a 26-10 season in which Chancellor’s team finished in a three-way tie for the league title, then won a two-round seeding tournament for the top playoff berth.

The Lady Eagles defeated Little Cypress-Mauriceville in bidistrict and fell to Manor in the area round.

All nine of Barbers Hill’s varsity players are returning, each with at least a season of varsity experience.

Morgan Anderson, Jill Coon, Jordan Cobb and cousins Jasmine Carter and Paris Carter are the team’s seniors, with Jenna Silva and Carli Manchaca juniors and Shannon Evans and Shaw the sophomores.

Chancellor said he expects to start a lineup of Shaw, Evans, Cobb, Carter and Carter against the Lady Cougars tonight, but added that with the exception of Shaw, Jasmine Carter is his tallest player at 5-9 “and there’s no (talent) drop-off for any of our players.”

“The biggest change this year is we don’t have any drop when we sub,” he said. “That’s where we’ve been able to make our runs on people. Because we have more depth, we wear people down.”

The blueprint has worked to the tune of a 7-2 record so far this season.

Barbers Hill’s only two losses have come to 5A teams Channelview and The Woodlands.

In play at the Montgomery tournament last Thursday and Saturday, Barbers Hill beat Willis and New Caney handily and lost to The Woodlands.

Shaw has been labeled one of the top sophomore players in the nation after attending an exposure camp in Atlanta in October.

Chancellor, the son of former Houston Comets coach and current LSU women’s coach Van Chancellor, won’t disagree.

“Kendall worked real hard in the off-season and has gotten a lot stronger and her footwork is a lot better,” the BH coach said. “She’s becoming a real force in the paint.

“And she’s become more of a focal point for us. We’re definitely going to try to go inside first and outside second.”

But Shaw isn’t alone in putting in hard work.

“As a group, all our players came in in tremendous shape, quicker and faster,” Chancellor said. “I think it shows.”

Kingwood Park and C.E. King wound up in the three-way tie for the district title with Barbers Hill last year.

“Kingwood Park returned everybody and they’re picked to win district this year,” said the Eagles coach. “C.E. King will always be tough and Crosby has a real big post player and some young guards and they’re going to be pretty good.

“You can’t count out Dayton. They’re always running and pressing. And Goose Creek Memorial won the Nederland tournament. Our district will be pretty tough. There are no easy games.”

In other games scheduled tonight, Sterling’s boys host Spring Woods while the Lady Rangers host Clear Brook. Lee’s boys host Worthing while the GCM boys host Houston Davis. Caney Creek’s boys play at Barbers Hill. Anahuac’s girls are at Deweyville.