Hoops preview: Chelsea girls looking to continue winning ways

Lori Weber knows nothing but winning, and she’s brought that mindset to the Chelsea High School girls basketball team.

Weber played at Vestavia Hills High School during its peak, reaching two Final Fours in four years.

She wants that to be the expectation for her teams at Chelsea now.

“I was lucky enough to be able to do that when I was in high school,” said Weber, entering her second season as the head coach. “The experience alone is huge.”

The Lady Hornets reached the Class 6A sub-regionals last year and went toe-to-toe with a Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa team that advanced to the Final Four. That game served as an eye-opener as to what Chelsea can achieve under the right circumstances.

“That game, our girls were ready,” Weber said. “They were nervous, but they were ready. I was amazed at how they played. Then it kind of got out of hand after halftime… They played their hearts out and I don’t think I could’ve asked for anything more out of them.”

Chelsea was young last year and remains young this year. Hope Richard is the team’s only senior, but a year of experience for much of the varsity roster should pay dividends this winter.

Michaella Edwards was the headliner offensively for the Lady Hornets last season, as she averaged 29 points and 11 rebounds per game. Over the summer, she was invited to the USA Basketball U16 national team trials in Colorado, one of 133 girls across the country to be selected.

“Amazing,” Weber said of Edwards. “She is definitely your all-around [player]. She can play anywhere you ask her to play. We’ve been working on her having the mentality of being a good leader on and off the floor.”

Weber said the Lady Hornets hope to have some other players, such as sophomores Pressley Rains, Jordan Parker and Suzanne Ridgway, step up in a big way so as to take some of the pressure off Edwards.

“Being young, we lack confidence at times,” Weber said. “They can do it, they just have to know they can do it and not just dish the ball off to her.”

Dishing the ball off to Edwards is certainly not a bad option, though, but Weber believes that if her team can take some of the load off her shoulders, it will actually allow Edwards to have a better season as an all-around player.

“It never hurts to have that player, but it’s also nice to have those sneaky ones behind her,” Weber said.

Transition offense will remain an emphasis for the Lady Hornets, especially with their lack of size on the interior. Playing that way requires an emphasis on conditioning. The team went to Blackwatch Sports Performance multiple times a week throughout the summer for strength and conditioning work.

“Hopefully we will outlast everybody,” Weber said. “I don’t want us to be tired in the fourth quarter.”

The roots have been planted in Weber’s program — the emphasis on playing as a team, the system of play and the expectation of winning — and now the Lady Hornets are looking to reap some results this year.

“I think the will to win is there for every one of them,” Weber said. “I really hope that we do well and have a winning season and continue to make things grow here for the school,” Weber said.

The Lady Hornets tip off their season Nov. 9 at Vestavia Hills.