For 10 years, the Garfield G-Men girls’ basketball program has been layered with success after success. After suffering their first losing season since the 2012-13 campaign last year, the G-Men girls are eager to prove themselves once again.
“It was a frustrating year and just one of the years where we were asking a lot of people to do things,” said Coach Aaron Gilbert. “They just were not quite ready so hopefully with a year under their belt hopefully they will be more ready to take on the challenges that they face during the season.”
One of Garfield’s keys to success over a 10-year stretch was continuity and returning experienced players. The last several years have seen significant turnover in the starting five and it eventually caught up to Garfield last season when it compiled a 4-19 (3-11) record.
Having graduated only two seniors from last year’s squad, the 18-year coach is confident that the team’s overall experience gained will better prepare them for another season.
“There is a lot of bad taste in their mouths from last year and a lot of the same opponents on the schedule this year with just as talented a roster, so it will just be us trying to stay together and get some early wins to get their confidence and know that things are different then in the previous year and get things back on track,” he added.
Garfield returns three players in the starting five, including junior guard/forward Mandy Cardinal, who recorded 13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 0.8 blocks and 2.4 assists in 17 games before her season ended early after suffering a torn ACL.
Gilbert said that that the 6-foot guard/forward has been fully cleared to compete in games at the beginning of the season but will most likely be on a minute restriction in the first few months.
“She is learning with what she feels comfortable doing and stuff,” he added. “That is going to take a while. Getting her back is a big piece and she brings some continuity and some calming factors to her teammates with her being out there, so as big as a blow as it was for us to lose her last year it also helped some of these other kids get some playing time.”
Joining Cardinal in the starting line-up is junior guard Kaelyn Tasker, who assumed the role of floor general late last year after Cardinal’s season-ending injury. The 5-foot-5 junior returns after averaging 3.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 assists in 23 games.
“She is probably one of those players who was probably not ready for those amount of minutes that I was asking her for last year because of our situations, but she is just a player that you know what you are going to get,” Gilbert said.
The third returnee in the starting five is junior guard Riley Grace, who tallied 3.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.6 steals and 0.3 assists in in 23 contests.
According to Gilbert, the last two spots in the starting five have not yet been decided yet with junior forward Annie Rado, sophomore forward Kylene McMahon, senior guard Kolby Fresch, senior guard Juliana Genovese and sophomore guard Charlee Hill all vying to start.
He acknowledged that Garfield’s starting five may not be a true set starting line-up this season and may be more dependent on match-ups in each game.
The good news is that Garfield will have the means to go big or small with the variety of players available.
Post players such as the 5-foot-8 Rado, who recorded 1.3 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.2 blocks and 0.3 assists in 20 games last year, and the 5-foot-6 McMayon, who averaged 2.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.2 assists six contests, will enable the G-Men to match up against opponents with more size.
Garfield’s small-ball line-up will be made possible by the likes of the 5-foot-5 Fresch, who compiled 1.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.4 steals and 0.3 assists in 22 games, the 5-foot-5 Hill who recorded 2.7 points, 1.6 rebounds, 0.4 steals and 0.6 assists in 19 games, and the 5-foot-5 Genovese who tallied 1.1 points, 1.1 rebounds, 0.3 steals and 0.1 assists in 23 games.
“Just coming off of scrimmages, some players have looked a little bit more impressive than others and at other times they do not look impressive, so it is just that consistency that we are looking for,” Gilbert said.
Garfield’s season begins when it travels to face Portage County rival Rootstown on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
