Lady Vandals tip off season at Serpent Classic

The Eureka High School girls basketball team will look very different than it did last season. After winning the 1A East Region with an 11-1 record, going 24-3 overall and making a run to the 1A State Championship Game last year, the Vandals are replacing five seniors — including their best player.

You can rarely replace someone like Megan Johnson with just one player, and EHS head coach Travis Gallagher is addressing his scheme in her absence. “More teamwork will be needed,” he said. “Everyone will need to be involved. Sharing the ball is going to be key.”

The Vandals have just one senior, forward Kylee Patterson. There are two juniors on the roster: Shay Hooper and five-foot-nine Quil Filippini. Filippini averaged almost five points, three rebounds and almost three steals per game last season.

Eight sophomores and five freshmen round out the roster, including Anna McKay, who was the third-leading scorer last season, averaging 6.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game. Annie Tibbits and Natalie Bliss both saw considerable playing time last year as freshmen.

“The five freshmen all show promise, and as it looks right now, most of the sophomores will be helping out on varsity,” Gallagher informed, adding that he will likely start three or four sophomores and at least one junior. He isn’t ready to name those starters just yet, however. 

The roster doesn’t feature much size, so scoring in transition will be essential. That’s why Gallagher intends to pressure the ball on defense to force turnovers and create fastbreak scoring chances.

“We are small, but we are quick, so hopefully, we can use that speed to create pressure on defense, which we can turn into transition offense.”

The Vandals start their season at the Serpent Classic against Bishop Union at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4. They’ll open the season at home against Tonopah on Dec. 20.

“This is a good group of girls, and very ambitious,” Gallagher said. “We are in a ‘growing’ year, but don’t tell them that. We should be very competitive in our league this season.”