Before the season even begins for the Beech High girls basketball team, a transition is already being made.
Beech High senior Deja Smtih was one of the Sumner County Co-Players of the Year last season.
The transition will occur due to head coach Kari Douglas only being able to coach into December before going on maternity leave. Douglas is expecting her first child and will miss the remainder of the season once she goes on leave.
“The plan is to go until I can’t go anymore,” Douglas said. “We’re going to Gatlinburg in December (for a tournament), and I won’t go for that. So, my last game will probably be Dec. 15 … if I can make it that long.”
Troy Carnes will take over as interim head coach once Douglas takes her maternity leave, with Lauran Hudgins assisting.
“I hate it for the girls, because it’s not good timing,” Douglas said. “But you can’t time everything.”
Douglas is already preparing for the change in preseason practice.
“You don’t get a night off in our district, no matter who you play, and our non-district schedule is really tough,” Douglas said. “(Over) the next couple of weeks, we’ll make sure that everybody is on the same page and knows what’s going on and get the feel of the new coaches.
“With me being gone sooner than later, I’m trying to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and everyone knows what to expect. They should expect the same hardness as if I was there.”
The Lady Bucs finished 12-16 last season and suffered a first-round exit in the District 9-AAA Tournament, due to a 40-35 loss to Hendersonville. Six days prior to that, the Lady Bucs had defeated Hendersonville by 16 points.
There isn’t much experience returning from last year’s squad either, and preseason injuries haven’t helped.
Beech lost senior Lexi Cook on the last day of preseason conditioning to a torn anterior-cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee, and she will miss the season. Another senior, Jordan Mueller, was already ruled out after tearing her ACL prior to soccer season.
That leaves senior point guard Deja Smith and sophomore guard Reese Taylor as the only players with any significant playing time from last year’s squad.
“I think Reese has improved tremendously,” Douglas said. “I think she knows that she’s going to have to step up more than what she would have if Lexi were still playing.”
Smith was a Sumner County Co-Player of the Year last year, and she will handle the point-guard duties again.
“Deja’s not necessarily the vocal leader, but she’s the leader by example,” Douglas said. “She will go out there, and she may take some bad shots. But she’s going to have to take bad shots, because she’s going to be one of our main scorers.”
Beech High sophomore Reese Taylor is one of only two returning players who played in the majority of the Lady Bucs’ games last season.
Taylor played extensively as a freshman, and she immediately becomes the second-most experienced player on the team.
“We kind of consider Reese an upperclassman, even though she’s just a sophomore, just because of her experience of playing every game and almost every minute,” Douglas said.
Juniors McCall Decker and Joslyn Brinkley are expected to step into starting roles.
Others that could break into the starting lineup are sophomore Savannah Garrett, along with two freshmen – Kennedy Powell and Kendra Mueller.
Garrett didn’t dress for Beech’s varsity games last season.
“We’ve only done a couple of play days, but she’s been an aggressive, hard-nosed player that will get after it,” Douglas said.
Kendra Mueller is currently out due to a concussion, and she may not be ready for opening night. However, she should return to the lineup quickly to give the Lady Bucs an option inside.
“We may not have her for our first game, but she’s not afraid,” Douglas said. “She’s not afraid to come in and do what we ask her to without any questions. She catches on really quick.”
Those younger players could be critical to the Lady Bucs’ season.
“They’re getting it quicker than I expected them to,” Douglas said. “It’s actually helping us along the way.”
Douglas doesn’t expect the effort to change once she leaves.
“We’re always not the most experienced team, but they’re a group that will do whatever – dive on the floor or do whatever it takes,” Douglas said. “They’re really competitive.”
Douglas expects Wilson Central and Hendersonville to contend for the district title again, and Mt. Juliet will still be competitive even after losing most of their starters from last season.
“All the coaches in our district are unbelievable coaches,” Douglas said. “They also have the great players. Mt. Juliet lost a couple of people, but Coach (Chris) Fryer never has a down year. They’re always going to be competitive. It’s going to be tough all the way around.”
For now, the puzzle is incomplete, but the Lady Bucs believe that they can find the right combination.
“There’s bits and pieces in there,” Douglas said. “We’ve just got to figure out how to put them together and how to jell, because only two people have any experience. There are pieces of the puzzle that are good. We’ve just got to figure out which piece goes where.”
Beech opens play with a Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association Hall of Champions game on Tuesday evening at Clarksville, and the Lady Bucs will begin District 9-AAA action by hosting Station Camp on Dec. 4.
Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or at 615-575-7118. Follow him on Twitter @CB_SumnerSports.