'99-00 SCHEDULE

Dec. 3 -- at Grove City Tournament       4 -- at Grove City Tournament       8 -- at Mercer       9 -- at Linesville       13 -- Conneaut Lake       16 -- Maplewood       20 -- Cambridge Springs       28 -- at Linesville Holiday Tournament       29 -- at Linesville Holiday Tournament       30 -- at Linesville Holiday Tournament Jan. 3 -- at Cochranton       6 -- at Jamestown       10 -- Union City       13 -- Conneaut Valley       17 -- at Saegertown       20 -- Linesville       24 -- at Conneaut Lake       25 -- at Sharon       27 -- at Maplewood       31 -- at Cambridge Springs Feb. 3 -- Cochranton       7 -- Jamestown       10 -- at Union City       14 -- at Conneaut Lake       17 -- Saegertown

By The Herald Sports Staff

This year will see a lot of changes for the Lakeview girls squad, starting with the head coach. Taking over for former head coach Becky Swartz is first-year head coach Frank Shugarts.

Shugarts' assistant coach, Terri Walter, is also a rookie at the varsity level. Eighth grade and elementary coach Marie Kohr and seventh grade coach Becki Williams are both in their third year at the helm. He coached the junior varsity team last year and inherits a team that went 5-14.

"With all the changes on offense and defense, it's hard to say where we are this year," said Shugarts. "I think we can do a lot better than we did last year. Last year's jayvee team, which I coached, went 17-3 and had a lot of talent. We really had some younger players develop as the year went on. Some of them actually lettered varsity by the time the season was over, so we're bringing back seven letterwinners for this year."

One of the big keys for the Lady Sailors will be 6-1 sophomore center Tenesha Aden. She played in all but three games and scored 101 points. Another integral part of the team is 5-5 junior guard/forward Morgan Sasse. She was the team's leading scorer with a 9.5 points per game average.

One player coach Shugarts says the team will miss is four-year letterwinner Crystal Spangler. She was one of the leading scorers on the 1998-99 crew after averaging 10 points per game.

The Lady Sailors went 4-11 in conference last year, with two wins over both Jamestown and Conneaut Valley. Lakeview didn't manage to make the playoffs, but they are dreaming of a playoff berth this year.

"In conference, I think Saegertown should be strong enough to repeat as champions this year," said Shugarts, regarding his competition. "I think Conneaut Lake would be the number two team, and I think we should be somewhere around three or four with Linesville."

Shugarts is optimistic about his team's chances of making the playoffs this season.

"I really think we have the talent, the speed, and we've got three senior lettermen coming back that can all shoot," he said, speaking of 5-1 point guard Jessica Engstrom, 5-8 forward Becca Barrall and 5-8 guard-forward Kim McClearn.

"This year, we're going to concentrate more on defense. We're quick, so we're going to trap and we're going to press as much as we can," Shugarts said. "Over the summer, at the camps we went to, we tried and put in that kind of a defense, which gave us some success early. Coming into this year we put those elements in and we really looked good on defense."

Change heavily marks this team, from the graduation of senior leaders to the many changes in the coaching staff.

"I'm the third coach in four years for this group of seniors," said Shugarts. "That's been tough on them, but they've hung through it. They've been tough and they've accepted me and all the changes I've made this year. I really appreciate their attitude and effort coming into this year. I want them to have a good season and to leave this program on a good note."