VEEDERSBURG — There is a lot to be excited about with Fountain Central’s upcoming girls basketball season.
The Mustangs hope to improve on a 5-18 record from a season ago and will look to four key returning players and new coach Jason Good to get them there.
“With it being a new system and new coach, we are obviously a little behind, but the girls have worked hard and had great attitudes every day so far,” Good, who was 84-82 in seven seasons as the Mustangs’ boys coach, said. “Practices have been a little longer than planned to help make up for lost time. We certainly don’t have as many things in as I’d hope, but our goal is simply to play our best basketball at the end of the season.”
Fountain Central is trying to make up for lost time due to the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled more than a month worth of summer workouts and has altered the preparation for the upcoming season. Luckily, the Mustangs return their leading scorer in senior Dakota Borman, who averaged 14.7 points per game last season, and senior Grace Foxworthy, who contributed a 6.8 point per game clip. Junior Larissa Bowers returns depth in the post and senior Marley Massey at the shooting guard position.
Good hopes to use size and speed to increase their 37-point scoring average from last season.
“We have some speed at the guard positions and some size inside,” he said. “I think we will be improved offensively.”
The biggest key will be improving defensively. Fountain Central allowed more than 50 points per game last season. Good wants to see that improvement continue to show and expects freshman Kacey Kirkpatrick and Kendra Earlywine and Nola Walls to help add depth.
“We hope to develop some more depth, as we are very young outside our six juniors and seniors,” Good said. “We are learning to play harder and play more together. So far the girls have made a ton of progress in a short period of time.”
Fountain Central is looking for its first winning season since 2016-17, and Good knows overcoming adversity and better defense will be what it takes to get back to winning ways.
“No. 1 is to learn to handle adversity,” he said. “We talk daily about how we react when things don’t go our way. We’ve improved in this area already but there is still a lot of work to do. I’d also like to see us become a better defensive team. We are learning every day, but it is a process that will take some time. Handling all the unexpected changes because of COVID is a challenge, but it also offers a chance for growth.”
Fountain Central opens the season at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Faith Christian. Key dates for the Mustangs include road games at Southmont on Nov. 12 and Crawfordsville on Nov. 17, a home game against North Montgomery on Nov. 24 and the Bi-County tournament on Dec. 29 and 30.
