EFFINGHAM — The Effingham Flaming Hearts were 29-5 last season, winning a regional championship and advancing to the Class 3A Effingham Sectional Finals.
Head coach Jeff Schafer is entering his 27th season and has a career record of 498-264.
Schafer talked about the forthcoming season below.
Outlook on the season
“We should be good. As a coach, you hate to say that, but the expectations have to be sky-high based on what we accomplished last year and having a good piece of those people back. They expect to win almost every time they step on the floor, so that’s a good feeling.”
Feelings before the new season begins
“I’m excited. I’m a firm believer that success in one sport rubs off. If you look at our girls basketball team, our volleyball, and our softball over the last few years, it just keeps rubbing off, and a lot of it is because of the same athletes.”
Returners
“Saige Althoff is our leader. She’s our energy, our sparkplug. She busts her butt all the time, like the rest of them do. She’s 100 percent lead by example. She seemed to always get in a little foul trouble the last couple of years, but I noticed in practice that she made a really good decision in practice; instead of going for the ball, she stayed where she was defensively and just cut her off. I’m like, ‘That’s maturity right there.’ She’s so dynamic. We can play her in the post or at point guard, wherever we need her to be. She knows everything, is a coach on the floor, and can tell everyone where to go.”
“Bella Austin was a blessing. She gave us that one thing we were missing — that extra shooter. She’s just such a great leader and such a great teammate. About 30 seconds into the first summer game, I pulled her out and said, ‘It’s time for you to take that step forward. You’re too passive; you’re always trying to get your teammates involved,’ which is great, but she didn’t score 1,000 points by accident and still has a season left. The nice thing about her is she’s happy being her and doing whatever’s best for the team to win. I look for her to be a dynamic scorer, but she does everything great. Sidney Donaldson is very dynamic as well. She can stretch the floor out. I like her best inside, but she can shoot the three when she’s open. As long as she steps into it, I have no problems with her shooting that shot. She’s another player who can sometimes dominate a game and take over. She gives us a little size between those two. We’re not real tall, but we’re tall enough.”
“Averie Wolfe is our motor. I thought she improved her shooting since last year and you hope that kids will take that step forward every year. She has a lot more confidence running the offense, but she’s also just a great defender. I don’t always like turning her loose for fear of losing her in foul trouble, but she’s also continued to mature, and her decision-making has improved. Defensively, she’s gotten smarter and makes better decisions there. She’s going to be one of the keys. She will have the ball in her hands to start.”
“Bria Beals is one of the best shooters, but she’s more than just a shooter. She had some great rebounding games for us last year, too, and she’s continued where, maybe in her freshman and sophomore years, she was a defensive liability. She’s just come to practice every day for the last three years and worked on improving. I don’t have to take her out at the end of the game. I’m not worried about her not guarding somebody, so she’s become a more complete player. When she gets her feet set on the 3-point line, you’re confident that it’s got a good chance to go in. Alyssa Martin is a really dynamic scorer and player. She’s got one gear, and that’s full-throttle. I’ve learned when I start to see when she’s running out of steam a little bit to give her a break, but she’s always in attack mode. She’s a silent leader because she doesn’t say much out there. She’s pretty quiet.”
“The nice thing is that we have a good senior crew. This is very parallel to the team that made it to the (Super Sixteen) about five or six years ago, where we had like nine seniors. Mya Harvey, Jerzi Bierman, Hannah Thompson and Korina Hecht will all be there. I have seniors that know what to do. You can put them in important situations if you’re in foul trouble. The hardest thing is keeping them happy. It’s a long season to go through when you don’t get to play as much as others. I’m glad that they all want to play. We’re glad to have them.”
Newcomers
“I expect Tessa Raddatz to be in the rotation as well. She played really well at the end of the last year. I think that the overtime T-Town junior varsity game was a huge confidence booster for her. She stepped right in this summer and surprised me with her three-point shooting. You can tell she’s really been working, so she gives us another shooter and another one who can handle the point and play the point. We’re easing her into that and we’ll let her do that a lot to get her feet wet because there might be games where we’re in foul trouble or have injuries.”