Capable young players showed up in droves at summer workouts involving the Campbell County High School girls basketball team. Many of them were eager eighth graders and wide-eyed freshmen. Together with a solid core of sophomores, juniors and a couple seniors, it gave head coach Davey Johnson a preliminary vision of his squad.
Many talented players stood out during tryouts at Campbell County including several of the younger ones. This intrigued the coach and got him thinking about how he wanted to mold this season’s version of the Camels.
“I’ve always wanted to go really uptempo,” Johnson said. “The quicker, the better.”
When attrition failed to whittle the number of candidates for the regular playing rotation, the wheels started turning. Once the varsity unit began taking shape in late preseason with different girls asserting themselves in different areas on different days, Johnson was becoming convinced.
“It’s almost ideal for an uptempo team to have a lot of fast players who can shoot,” the coach said. “We can play a lot of girls. So, let’s see if we can.”
By the time the season rolled around with a handful of fast-paced games under their belts, the coach knew it. Johnson had so many players that he had a happy problem.
“We have 10 or more girls who are ready to help us,” Johnson said. “But you can only play five at a time.”
Solution: play them all any way.
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“We’re really young but we’re also really deep and you don’t see that a lot,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of girls who can play. And we have a lot of girls who can shoot the basketball. With all that, we decided this past summer to play faster.”
For a coach who likes to play uptempo, having a deep roster and a team that can shoot from deep, is like having a symphony orchestra with virtuosos in every section — harmonious, powerful and capable of creating something truly magnificent.
It strikes a chord with leading scorer Isabella Jayasuriya. Johnson says she is one of the smartest players he’s coached. She leads the way for a team ranked in Kentucky’s top 30 with 60 points per game. Camels scoring is up 12% over last season. Of their first 918 shots, 425 were 3-point attempts or 46% of their total shot output. They are getting up almost five shots more per game than at this point last season with much higher conversion rates.
“It’s a fun way to play because we all get more shots,” said Jayasuriya, a 5-foot-10 junior swing player. “And you can get back quick on defense so we can get the ball back and do it again.”
This is sweet music to Johnson’s ears. He is adept at putting the harmony in harmonious. The Camels’ record entering the weekend was 13-5. They were unbeaten in 37th District play at 2-0 and 10th Region action at 6-0.
“I have a lot of offensive-minded players who can play as a team, so the buy-in was pretty easy,” the coach said. “So many girls can shoot from so many spots it’s sort of positionless basketball. And it’s hard to guard five girls who all can shoot the 3.”
Jayasuriya, team leader with averages of 15.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, said the playing style creates an enthusiastic atmosphere.
“Everybody’s having a great time,” said Jayasuriya, who worked with the team on short- to mid-range jumpers at a recent practice. She leads the team with 75% free throw shooting.
With such a joyous group of girls, the last thing Johnson wants to be is a joykill.
“I am not an in-your-face coach,” he said. “If the girls want to know if I’m not happy at the moment, they just can look at my face. I don’t want them to feel any pressures. Just have fun and shoot.”
For a young, impressionable talent such as 5-7 freshman combo guard Kendall Augsback, it’s the perfect fit. Augsback, a hard worker who had a great summer, believes the team is augmented by its togetherness and looseness. She personally believes she’s benefitting while more than tripling her eighth-grade scoring average of 3.3 points per game. She’s averaging 11.4 this season.
“She stepped up and filled a role for one thing,” Jayasuriya said.
Johnson goes one better.
“She’s a stone-cold gamer,” the coach said.
Augsback is followed in the individual scoring column by junior swing player and defensive stopper Faith Whitford at 7.3. Also among the top producers is freshman guard Addie Davis, first in field goal shooting (52%) and 3-point shooting (53%). Already a co-captain, Davis is fourth in scoring (6.1 ppg) and rebounding. The coach says her ceiling is “sky high.”
There’s also sophomore Amerie Mullins, fifth in scoring (4.9 rpg) and third in rebounding. She’s one of the first players off the bench bringing high energy.
“These young girls can all play,” Jayasuriya said. “They are ready to step up with confidence.”
Four others: freshman Stella Brockman, sophomores Josie Feebeck and Alyssa Weinel and eighth grader Lily Bittner, combine for about 9.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Brockman is one of the team’s most improved players. Feebeck, also a softball standout, excels as a backcourt defensive stopper. Weinel, also a guard, is from a basketball-playing family. Bittner, another guard, is the baby of the bunch.
With so many young players, plus Augsback, that augers well for the future.
“I’m much more used to this offense and the flow, and I feel like my confidence grows along with the girls,” Augsback said. “There is lots of shooting and I feel like we really get at it. Because we’re so young we’re only going to get better.”
Veterans helping the cause are senior rim protector Macie Peoples, second in rebounding and seventh in scoring, and junior guard Madeleine Barbian, second in both 3-point shooting and free throw shooting percentage. Barbian is sixth in scoring and rebounding. Efficient reserve senior post player Alicia Appel has a career shooting percentage of 53.8%
“I’m telling you, everybody can shoot it,” Johnson said.
Nine players average at least one 3-point attempt per game and nine shoot 33% or better from long range. That matches the team’s overall long-range rate of 33%, ranked among the state’s top 25. All but one of the 14 players on the team have made at least one 3.
As Johnson conducts his harmonious group with ever-ranging parts, he must feel like his baton is a magic wand. He can wave his hand and cast unlimited scoring spells and shooting sprees. When the Camels swing into action, possibilities for baskets seem endless. To opponents, the sheer number of Camels shots certainly seem endless.
As the baskets keep coming, there are a few things still on the Camels’ bucket list, namely playing better defense.
“The past three weeks, we’ve really started to guard better and get in passing lanes, gain possession and get in transition.” Johnson said. “We have goals, including winning the district and the region. If we continue to get better on defense and keep doing what we’re doing on offense, we can do that.”