Horton girls have 'most depth ever', says coach

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdeoste@kingscountyregister.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

While reluctant to get too optimistic, Horton D-1 girls’ basketball team head coach Ian MacMillan says, “things are looking very good.”

The Griffins return four starters (Lindsay Harris, Kaylee Young, Kira Pederson and Kayla Davis) from last year’s team and also welcome back Abbey Duinker, who spent 2007/2008 at the National Elite Development Academy (NEDA) in Hamilton, Ont. Duinker was a member of the national junior team as well as the Nova Scotia U-17 team this past year. In fact, Horton has a number of players with provincial team experience. Harris and Pederson joined Duinker on the U-17 team, Davis started for the provincial U-16 team and Katie Jordan played on the Nova Scotia U-15 team. And despite not playing on the provincial squad, Kaylee Young, MacMillan said, “is a very capable player.”

Young, Harris, Duinker and Emily Stewart are all in Grade 12. Pederson and Davis are in Grade 11; Jordan, Danielle Broome and Laura Boylen are returning players in Grade 10.

In addition, there are five new players on a roster of 14 (12 will dress for games). MacMillan said they “are all very good, or have the potential to be very good before they’re finished Grade 12.”

Depth and talent

Three of the new players – Emily MacLellan, Jenny Crowell and Brittany Singleton – are from Hantsport, following in the footsteps of Pederson and Davis. MacMillan is especially high on MacLellan, who “is good now and is going to be an outstanding player down the road.”

The other new player – or at least, new to Horton – is Sarah MacDonald, who played last year for Halifax Grammar School and whose family has relocated to the area. MacDonald, also in Grade 10, was a teammate of Jordan’s on the U-15 team.

MacMillan said, “one through 12, this is the most depth we’re ever had in this program in any one year, in terms of talent and potential, at least in my memory.

“I can’t remember Horton ever having this many good players or potentially good players. Even in the years we won (2004/2005 and 2005/2006), we were really only six or seven deep.”

The depth and talent “is thanks in large part to Hantsport,” where, in particular, Casey and Renda Vandertoorn “have done a great job for a great many years” developing young basketball players, especially females.

The Griffins’ new season gets underway Nov. 14 with the annual tip-off tournament. MacMillan has Fredericton and Saint John confirmed, and is trying to find a fourth team to complete the field.