East Clinton went 13-10 as Bill Bean took over for Jeff Craycraft who unexpectedly passed away prior to the start of the season.
EC was 8-4 in the National Division, good enough for third place in the league standings.
Bean’s coaching staff includes Brian Barnes, Angie Collom and Misty Bean at the high school level and David Boris and Lorrie Arnold at the middle school.
EC returns the bulk of that team as Gracie Boggs, Jericka Boggs, Gracie Evanshine and Katrina Bowman were the lone graduates.
Libby Evanshine (15.4 ppg, 6 reb, 2.1 ast, 2.2 stls) was first team All-SBAAC as a sophomore last year while Lauren Runyon (8.6 ppg 5.3 reb) earned first team honors as a freshman.
Gracie Evanshine was second-team while Gracie Boggs was honorable mention.
In all two starters and nine letterwinners are back from the 2020-21 Astros. Other top players from a season ago coming back are Kelsi Lilly, Jordan Collom, Kami Whiteaker, Jayden Murphy and Jozie Jones.
Bean said newcomers who could contribute are Megan Stone and Lauren Stonewall.
Seniors Lilly and junior Libby Evanshine are the leaders of the team, Bean said.
“This group is a great bunch of girls that work really hard and are very determined to be successful,” he said. “The girls’ team goal is to win the league championship which has not been done at East Clinton since 1985.”
If that happens, other team goals — high tournament seeding and successful post-season — will likely be achieved on the way. Bean said staying disciplined on defense and improving in all aspects of the game will be keys to contending.
”I like how hard working and competitive this team is,” said Bean. “They also have a great ability to get along with each other.
“We need to work on our rebounding and getting in basketball shape.”
