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Beaufort High and its new coach hope to continue Dickson's success
bhughes@beaufortgazette.com
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Change is in vogue for the Beaufort High School girls basketball team with a new coach and new style of play. What they don't want to change is the success the program has had during the decade.
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New coach Jerry Hickey, who takes over for Mona Lise Dickson, saw the first sign that his players are grasping the new concepts during practice last week.
"I put a play in last night and they said 'Hey, we kind of did this last year,' " Hickey said."We're trying to put in a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. Everything we're doing is new."
Under Dickson, who resigned her post to become principal at Whale Branch Middle School, the Beaufort girls were 255-107 in 14 seasons and were state runners-up in 2001.
"She did leave the program in goodshape and Coach Dickson did some good things while she was here," Hickey said. "I think we just try to build on that success."
That building starts with a new offensive and defensive outlook.
The biggest difference will be on the offensive end of the floor. Hickey wants his team to be more transition oriented and has a more pared-down playbook for when the Eagles do use half-court sets.
"He wants us to play with fundamentals rather than going to a set spot and getting that set pass that's scheduled to be there," forward Rebecca Tkach said.It's just kind of going with what the defense gives you. It makes you use your brain a little bit more."
The Eagles have the talent to produce plenty of transition points thanks to the backcourt trio of Kentura Carpenter, Kristian Ramsey and Arielle McPhee.
"We're going to try and run the ball up and down the court," Hickey said. "We've got some good athletes so we'll get it out and go every opportunity we can."
So far in practice, the new offense has seen mixed results.
"We go half court in practice and we look all-American," Hickey said. "When we go full court, we start to lose our focus a little bit.
Defensively, don't expect too much zone from the Eagles.
Beaufort's primary defense last season, the 1-3-1 zone defense with some man-to-man defense sprinkled in, is a thing of the past as the Eagles settle into a full man-to-man defense.
"I'm a hard man-to-man defense coach," Hickey said."We're working really hard defensively trying to play man-to-man every possession."
Change is rarely smooth. A new coach teaching a new style runs the danger of running into resistance. Especially when what the team hasbeen doing has worked so well.
It helps when you have an experienced and talented team to work with that is willing to learn.
"I hear a lot of 'Well, this isn't how we did it last year,'" Hickey said. "I said 'Well, this isn't going to be how you did it last year. This is different.' The girls are where they should be from a basketball standpoint. They know the fundamentals and they're prepared for the season. It's not like I'm starting over with them."
And while the coach and style may have changed, the players' expectations have not.
"We would like to bring the region title back to Beaufort High," Carpenter said. "That's really our main goal right now. We want to go all the way."
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