From left, sophomore point guard Kristian Tester dishes to senior captains April Curley, Sarah Sullivan, Falundrus Sims, Kendra Stegall and Cassie Tester.

Same Faces, New Look For Lady Cats

Most of the faces will be the same but the El Dorado girls basketball team promises to have a new look this season. The Lady Cats return all five starters and nearly the entire roster from last year’s squad.

Although most of the players were the same, the team that went 13-15 last season did not resemble the team that went 19-9 at two basketball camps over the summer.

After an intense offseason program, Coach Brad Slatton liked what he saw during the summer. He said the difference is noticeable in practice.

“Confidence, that’s the big thing,” he said. “They know they can play with anybody if they play to their ability. It came from the summer, actually going out and playing good teams and beating them. It’s one thing to play somebody close but to go out and beat those teams can’t do anything but give you confidence.”

Slatton begins his third year at the helm of the girls basketball program. He has eight seniors who were sophomores when he arrived and have learned the system.

“Most of them are experienced. We’ve got a lot of seniors that have been here for three years and a sophomore that has already experienced a high level of basketball,” said Slatton.

Five senior captains lead El Dorado’s squad: April Curley, Falundus Sims, Kendra Stegall, Sarah Sullivan and Cassie Tester. The captains set the tone with their work habits and commitment to the program.

“We realize that this year is it for us. We want this year to be perfect,” said Sullivan. “This year our team is coming off a boost of confidence from summer success. Last year we sat back and watched everyone and let them determine how we were going to play. This year we want to set the pace.”

Said Tester, “This year everyone is more confident about themselves. Last year we looked forward to playing the easy teams. Now we’re ready for the more challenging games.”

El Dorado, which has not made the playoffs since 1994, expects to challenge for the AAAAA-South crown and earn a state tournament berth.

“Winning conference is our number one goal,” said Slatton. “I think this year it is realistic. I feel if we shoot for anything less, we would be missing out on an opportunity. Obviously we want to make it to the state tournament and do well. I think we’ve got the type of team that would give people trouble. But you’ve got to get there first.”

With the addition of sophomore point guard Kristian Tester, the Lady Cats hope to have a faster paced attack this season. In years past, El Dorado has been a halfcourt club.

“We’ll be more uptempo,” said Slatton. “Last year we tried to win games in the halfcourt. You’ve got to play a real good game to do that and make no mistakes. This year we’ll go back to what I like to do which is push the ball. We’ve got the guard to do it now. We’ve got people who can spot up and our post players run the court pretty well. We’d like to push it.

“Defensively, we like the fullcourt game. I feel more confident in our man-to-man defense. We looked really good at times this summer. We’ll have some pressure. We’re not going to sit back and let people dictate to us. We’ll force the action and hopefully we’ll get more baskets in transition than in the past.”

If the team has a weakness it could be consistently playing at a high level. Even during the summer, the Lady Cats had a tendency to play to the level of the competition. That is something Slatton has harped on over and over.

“If we want to achieve our goals, we have to learn to set the pace for the game,” said Sullivan. “We can’t play to the potential of the opponent. We need to take advantage of our strengths. Our team is extremely well rounded with a great outside shooting game and great size and strength inside. If we use what we have, there will be no problem. We’ve got to focus and take our season one game at a time.”

For the first time in a long time, all of the ingredients appear to be in place for the Lady Cats. The missing element – confidence – was added after a spring and summer of hard work and dedication to the program.

“We’ve got size inside, good guard play, we shoot the ball well from the perimeter and we added somebody who can penetrate and create,” said Slatton. “I don’t know what more you could want offensively. We should be tough to defend.

“We have to stay healthy and be consistent and not play to the level of the other team. We need to make people play with us instead of sinking to their level.

“We ought to be in the process of establishing a tradition. I’ve talked to the seniors about leaving their mark on the program. That’s something they’ve taken to heart. It’s important to them.”

Said Sullivan, “I doubt that any other team in our conference has put as much into this season as we have. I know that some of the teams didn’t start hard practice until volleyball was over but we have been practicing since June. I doubt that the other girls have been in the weight room like our team.”

The Lady Cats are hoping the hard work pays off. For the seniors, it’s now or never.

“This team has the ability to be as good as we want to be and go as far as we want,” said Cassie Tester. “Every year we always talk about how we are going to win conference and go to state. It’s time for us to stop talking about it and actually do it. It’s our turn and we deserve it.”