By ROB HAMILTON
New coach Jamie Edwards will try to keep the momentum of the Cardington Lady Pirates rolling after the team finished 17-6 last year and was co-champions of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference’s Blue Division.
The Pirates did suffer some losses from that squad, though. Kaitlyn Kavanaugh, who was named an honorable mention All-Ohioan, as well as a first-team MOAC player, graduated after averaging 10.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. She now is playing for Division II Lourdes University. Also graduated is Jane Perry, who picked up 5.6 points per contest. Junior guard Nadia Kerman will also miss the year after suffering an injury during an open gym, giving Edwards an extra hole in her line-up to fill.
Cardington still has four letter winners returning, though. Sophomore forward Kyndall Spires picked up 7.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game on her way to being named to the District 11 first team and the MOAC’s second team. Junior forward Allyson Adams tallied five points and four boards, while senior guard Summer Morgan added 1.7 points and sophomore point guard Sage Brannon picked up five points per game.
“We return two key contributors from last season in our junior class, although we recently lost Nadia Kerman for the season due to an ACL/meniscus tear in our last open gym,” said Edwards. “We will look to our lone senior and three-year letter winner, Summer Morgan, as our emotional leader.”
Edwards is expecting contributions from sophomore Makayla Conrad and freshman Kynlee Edwards, who averaged 17 points and nine steals per game in middle school. While the coach is going to field a young team this year, he notes that his girls put in a lot of off-season work.
“We look to compete for the Blue Division title,” he said. “We may be the youngest team in the Blue Division, but we are very experience. We have three underclassmen that play high-level AAU and I look for that to translate over to help fuel our success.”
In the conference, Edwards looks at Elgin and Northmor to be the top competition for a league title.
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
