21st District girls basketball previews

Coach: Shawn Mattingly (fourth year)

Last season: 4-18, lost to Valley 69-28 in the first round of the district tournament

Player to watch: Senior forward Lina Brown led the Bearcats in scoring (10.7) and rebounding (7.4) last season, and Mattingly said the forward has a “very high basketball IQ.”

Other players: Forward Savannah Scott (Sr., 0.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg), Forward Becca Sharp (Jr., 1.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg), Forward Sarena Vaughn (So., 1.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg) and Guard Mackenzie Davis (Fr., 5.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg).

Outlook: The Bearcats return four starters from last year’s team, and Mattingly hopes his squad will have improved health this season. Davis, who hit 24.2 percent of her three-pointers (32 of 132) last season as an 8^th grader, should help improved the team’s outside shooting.

Coach: Marco Price (third year)

Last season: 5-21, lost to Holy Cross 57-36 in a district semifinal

Player to watch: Junior Valerie Johnson transferred to the Bulldogs late last season and averaged 13.9 points and nearly two steals a game. Price will call on her to be the team’s point guard.

Other players: Post DeAsia Johnson (Sr., 3.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Guard Shanice Thomas (8^th, 4.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg), Guard Jaida Wiggins (Fr.), Guard Miyana Foree (Fr.) and Guard Tyasia Brown (Fr.)

Outlook: The Bulldogs will look to younger players, especially in the backcourt, this season as they look to replace the production from Daejanae Westbrook, who graduated last season, who was the team’s leading rebounder (3.4) and second leading scoring average (11.1).

Coach: Chris Jefferson (first year)

Last season: 18-14, lost to North Bullitt 71-46 in the Sixth Region first round

Player to watch: Guard Olivia Morabito was the team’s leading scorer (17.4), and Jefferson expects the same out of the 5-9 senior this season.

Other players: Forward Beth Newton (Sr., 5-10, 6.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Forward Shayla Weppler (Sr., 5-6, 6.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Guard Ally Klein (Jr., 5-5, 4.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg)

Outlook: After 18 years as an assistant, most recently at Butler, Jefferson gets his first head coaching position with the Cougars, who have all five starters returning. One thing he’s working on is to change the system for the undersized Cougars to take advantage of the team’s quickness.

Coach: David Meadows (fifth year)

Last season: 16-14, lost to Mercy 72-33 in the Sixth Region semifinals

Player to watch: Carnethia Brown was the Panthers leading scorer last year (17.8 ppg, 48 percent shooting) and the senior will be one of the top guards in the region this season.

Other players: Guard Perri Mitchell (Jr., 11.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and Guard Amani Saunders (Jr., 3.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg)

Outlook: PRP has eight of its top nine players returning from last year. However, with the graduation of All-Region performer Leslie Fries, the Panthers will be decidedly smaller this year, prompting Meadows to employ a four guard lineup.

Coach: Christopher Webb (second year)

Last season: 6-21, lost to Pleasure Ridge Park 71-23 in a district semifinal

Player to watch: Junior Lazhia Mitchell enters her third season as a starter for the Vikings and will handle point guard duties for Webb’s squad. The 5-7 junior has Valley quickness to get to the rim, the coach said.

Other players: Center Raekwon Spinks (Sr., 6-0) and Guard Brooklyn Black (Fr.)

Outlook: With 19 girls in the program, Webb is working on building the Vikings depth. Having all five starters back will help, as he hopes his team can learn to close out games.