PHS Girls Basketball Preview

“It should be fun group to watch.” That is just one of the early season thoughts Head Coach Jason Haid shared about his 2018-2019 Raider girls’ basketball team. Haid is in his 3rd year coaching the Raiders. He is also a physical education teacher at PHS. Originally from Haslett, MI, he was previously the head coach at Clinton Prairie High school in Frankfort, IN. He also coached a at Avon High School, Avon, IN.

Last year the Raider girls finished 6-15 and were 5th in the CAAC White division. Gone from that team are Shelby Battley who was honorable mention all-conference, and Olivia Sandborn who was all-conference and is now a member of the Track and Field team at Davenport University.

Senior Lesley Barker stands out as one of the key returners for this year’s squad. Barker was honorable mention all-conference last year. Haid calls Barker a, “Great athlete. She is very fast and the best defender we have.”

Freshman Ashley Bower and Breckyn Werner are promising newcomers to the team. They were even the top scorers for the Raiders in their season opened against Laingsburg earlier this week.

This year’s team has a total of 11 girls. Two freshmen (Ashley Bower and Breckyn Werner), three sophomores (Josie Goodman, Grace Sines and Ava Gruber), two juniors, (Jada Walton and Ari Babcock) and four seniors (Calley Goodman, Lesley Barker, Jolie Pung and Hannah Gruber).

When asked about his thoughts for the season, Haid said, “We are eager to get year started. We had several girls put in a lot of work this summer. I think we have excellent team chemistry. This group is very good at playing up tempo on both offense and defense. They like running and pressuring other teams.”

The raiders beat Laingsburg in their opener on Monday. Their next action is this Friday at home when the host Ionia.

Photo of Head Coach Jason Haid (kneeling) addressing his 2017-2018 squad last year.