Back from a year teaching on a Fulbright Exchange program in the Czech Republic, Community School girls' basketball coach Ryan Waterfield is looking forward to an exciting 2004-05 season with the 14 girls in the Cutthroat program.
Eighth-year coach Waterfield (52-60) said, "I'm really excited to be back at The Community School. And I'm especially excited to be coaching this team again."
The Northside Conference, with its six teams for the upcoming season, is tougher than ever, but Waterfield is well aware of the competition. Her last team, in 2002-03, went 9-10 and make inroads into the top echelon of the Northside.
She is fortunate to have three of the top four Cutthroat scorers returning from last year's 2-13 squad coached by Gary Carr. The Cutthroats gave Carey a very tough game in the Northside 1A tournament.
All seniors, the returning starters are Blake Ellis (7.0 ppg with 18 3-pointers), Jackie Goddard (6.1 ppg) and Gussi Ochi (4.7 ppg). They accounted for 61% of the team's points.
Waterfield said, "With four seniors, we should have some strong leadership. However, we are small (Jackie is our only true post player).
"We're hoping to run and play aggressive, active defense. The younger players are looking great and they bring great intensity to the team."
Caitlin Cairncross (3.0 ppg in limited action) is another returning senior with plenty of Cutthroat experience. The juniors are Caitlin Enright and Corinna Pidgeon. Both played on the varsity last winter.
Freshmen players this season are Emily Eshman, Cody Curran, Jessie Curran, Caroline Fairchild, Ashley Bradley, Jean Montgomery, Chloe Lynn and Hannah Carr.
"We've been aiming for fundamental development and discipline in practice so far," said Waterfield.
The junior varsity and assistant varsity coach is Austin Tyler, who guided the Cutthroat freshman girls for the last several years in the middle school. "Austin brings a lot to the program. I'm really excited to work with him," she said.
Waterfield's varsity opens its 11-game season Monday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. at Twin Falls Christian Academy.
