2022-23 high school basketball season preview

The high school basketball season has officially tipped off, and the varsity basketball teams along the U.S. 280 corridor have high hopes for the 2022-23 season. This season preview features a breakdown of Briarwood, Chelsea, Oak Mountain and Spain Park’s boys and girls teams as they embark on the long campaign ahead.

New-look Eagles ready to compete

So much has changed in recent months for the Oak Mountain High School boys basketball team. Nine seniors graduated from last year’s team and former head coach Chris Love retired.

This year’s Eagles team will feature seven seniors and Joel Floyd as the team’s new coach. Much has changed, but the team’s desire to work hard has not.

“We’re very excited about the future here and this season,” said Floyd, who is returning to a head coaching position after a few years as an assistant at Spain Park. “We’ve got a great group of guys and a strong senior class.”

The senior class that departed last season put together the most successful stretch in program history, winning a state championship, advancing to a state semifinal and playing in the regional final a season ago.

“That’s a lot to live up to,” Floyd said. “This group is hungry and waiting to try to go out there and prove that they can continue that tradition on.”

Floyd’s style is obviously going to be somewhat different than what Oak Mountain has done for years under Love. Floyd will likely attempt

to push the pace more on offense. But one thing that he won’t adjust much are his expectations for the team.

“The standard and expectation for how we’re going to go out there and succeed is still going to be set at a really high bar,” Floyd said. “I’ve been extremely impressed with the buy-in and work ethic from the guys.”

At the preseason Birmingham Media Day event, held at Thompson High, Floyd brought three of his seven seniors with him. Matthew Heiberger, Devan Moss and Tre Thomas spoke of the team’s cohesiveness and desire to put together a strong season.

“A lot of the mindset every day is proving ourselves and keeping this legacy going,” Moss said.

Braxton Diorio, Bobby Laury, Eli Love and Jack Ronilo are the other seniors on this year’s team. Emanuel Johnson, Kevin Jasinski and Grey Williams are three juniors Floyd expects to make a big impact, in addition to Camden Spangler, Sawyer Smith and Cameron Channell. Garrett Gorman is the team’s lone sophomore.

“We’ve got 13 guys that can run in there at any point in time,” Floyd said. “We’ve got a number of guys that can get out there and get after it.”

Oak Mountain plays a schedule featuring the likes of Helena, Huffman, Vestavia Hills, Leeds, Homewood and Oxford. The Eagles will also play in Homewood’s Metro Tournament. They will compete in Class 7A, Area 6 with Hewitt-Trussville, Spain Park and Chelsea.

The Eagles have plenty of things to figure out with a new roster and a new coach, but if they can make the progress their coach believes they can, the team may have something for the competition down the stretch.

“Once we get to that point, hopefully by January, I think some really good things can come from it,” Floyd said.

Lions feature ‘ton of experience’ entering season

Entering the 2022-23 season, the story is different for the Briarwood Christian School boys basketball team. Last year, the Lions were looking to gain experience and figure things out as they went.

This year, the hope is to capitalize on that progress made over the previous 12 months.

“Last year, we didn’t have a ton of experience,” Briarwood head coach Bobby Kerley said. “We had two seniors that did a good job, but they hadn’t played a ton of basketball…This year, coming back, we have a ton of experience.”

Kerley was flanked at the preseason Birmingham Media Day event by two of his six seniors, William Lloyd and Miles Gilbert. They believe having a full year of varsity experience alongside each other is going to pay dividends.

Lloyd said the team is comfortable around each other now, while Gilbert commended the seniors’ character.

“What makes us unique is we’re very unselfish,” Gilbert said. “We know each other’s weaknesses. We all had to come together and figure it out, but it’s exciting for us.”

The Lions rely on Lloyd’s ability to handle the basketball, while Gilbert has size and can score from anywhere on the court in addition to being a defensive force. Zac Lamey is a forward but is an elite shooter. Mathias Leib also plays forward and is a tough player, according to Kerley. Grant Mears is a shooter and known for his hustle plays. Sawyer Russell is another guy who makes all the tough plays.

Those six seniors will carry the Lions this season.

“Having so many older guys, we already know what we’re doing,” Kerley said. “Hopefully, we’re able to take that and move forward right away. We’ll be a good defensive team because we’re intelligent and long. You’ll see good offense because we can shoot it and we’re long.”

Luke Schultz and Garrett Witherington provide Briarwood a post presence as well. Caleb Keller is a fundamentally sound guard who Kerley said was fun to watch and a great passer. Drew Mears is a freshman guard and Josh Thompson is a junior forward.

Lloyd and Gilbert commented on the desire for the team to represent Christ and have a collective high character, and Kerley appreciated hearing those sentiments from his players.

“It’s just loud. It’s joyful, it’s a great place to be. We love practice almost as much as we love playing the game,” Kerley said.

Briarwood will be in Class 6A, Area 8, this season with Pelham and Helena.

“Every game is going to be down to the wire. It’s going to be tough from tip to final buzzer. We’re excited about the opportunity to be great and to compete with those guys,” Kerley said.

Briarwood will also face the likes of Woodlawn, Leeds, Homewood, Helena, Pelham and Calera in addition to tournaments at Woodlawn and in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Hornets ready to turn progress into consistency

Over the last several years, the Chelsea High School boys basketball team has a habit of making waves.

The Hornets are typically good enough to pull off some big wins, like their one against Mountain Brook last January.

Unfortunately, Chelsea has not been able to consistently parlay nights like that into long-term success over a season.

Head coach Nick Baumbaugh is ready to change that this year and believes his team possesses the capability to do just that.

“We have flashes of success in our program, we always have at Chelsea,” Baumbaugh said prior to the season. “We’ve talked about being tough all these years, and we’ve been tough. We battle hard and we don’t always win.

“This year, it’s about winning.”

Chelsea even has a motto this year that reminds them of that goal: Whatever Is Necessary (W.I.N.).

“The returning nucleus understands what needs to be done and those juniors are going to fit right in to what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.”

The Hornets will rely on their five seniors to lead the way to what they hope is a strong season. Paul Lanzi is back as the team’s leading scorer and will be in his third year as a full-time starter. He led the Hornets in points, assists and steals, while setting three different school records.

Alex Redd has also been contributing to the varsity team since his freshman season. He’s not a flashy player, according to his coach, but plays great defense and adds value in many ways. Dylan Brown started several games last season, and MJ Conrad and EJ Hudnall will give Chelsea two top-notch athletes in key positions.

Junior Avery Futch was Chelsea’s second leading scorer last year and Baumbaugh believes he is ready to take another step in his game this year. Aiden Owens is only a sophomore but established himself as a key player last season as well.

Gavin Collett, Braden Macon, Will Lee, Jaxon Shuttlesworth and Christian Whetstone are players who are making the jump to varsity this year.

“These guys are hungry. They got a small taste of success last year,” Baumbaugh said. “This is one of the deepest teams we’ve had in a long time. If someone is having an off night, we have guys who can step up.”

Baumbaugh said the Hornets had a strong summer, reinforcing some tactical tweaks they made toward the end of last year. He wants to see his team be consistent and handle adversity well this winter.

Chelsea will face the likes of Thompson, Helena, Sylacauga, Oxford, McAdory, Pelham and Calera throughout the season. The Hornets have also ascended to Class 7A for the first time and will play in Area 6 against Hewitt-Trussville, Spain Park and Oak Mountain.

“From the area standpoint, we’ve talked about how tough it’s going to be,” Baumbaugh said. “Are we going to rise to the challenge?”

Jags looking to continue recent run of success

The Spain Park High School boys basketball program is on a great run of success over the last couple of years.

In each of the last two years, the Jags have advanced to the Class 7A final four, where they have fallen to the same Enterprise team in the semifinals.

In 2020-21, Spain Park entered the season with high expectations and reached those. Last winter, it was largely expected the Jags would take a step back, but they defied the odds and got back to the same level.

This year, expectations are probably somewhere in between.

“Every year is a new season and a new journey,” Spain Park head coach Chris Laatsch said before the season at Birmingham Media Day at Thompson. “You lose some guys from the year before and we’re excited about who we have in our program.”

Laatsch, as one can imagine, spends little time worrying about his team’s external expectations. His favorite part of the season is showing up to work with his group of guys every day.

“I love going to the gym every day and seeing them, because I know what I’m going to get form them,” he said. “I don’t have to poke and prod or try to motivate guys to work hard. These guys bring it every day, so it’s a lot of fun.”

Spain Park has the requisite talent to achieve a season similar to the last two. The Jags finished each of those campaigns with 27 wins. In order to do that, or even go further, the Jags will have to excel in two specific areas.

“One of the things we’ve got to do is increase our toughness and grit,” Laatsch said. “We’ve got kids that want to do right, they want to do the right things, be in the right spots, doing the right things.”

Zach Gray and Sam Wright are the two players Laatsch brought with him to Media Day, for good reason. Both are key players for this Jags team who play hard every night and are strong leaders for the team.

Gray is a guard who has a reputation for being a shooter, so he said he has worked to develop his ball-handling and rebounding to increase his value to the team even if the opponent attempts to shut him down on offense.

Wright will anchor the post presence for the Jags, a strength of this year’s team.

“When you have bigs, you’re going to try to play through them,” Laatsch said. “We have bigs that can play, so they’re going to get touches. We also have a lot of guys that can drive the ball and shoot the ball. I think we can be versatile and hurt people in a lot of areas and have success in a lot of areas.”

Hunter Herritt and Evan Houser are also seniors this year, while Chase James is a third returning starter from last year’s squad. TJ Lamar and Jared Smith are two players who will provide depth at forward. Korbin Long also played big minutes last season.

Joshua Fonbah, Nicholas Richardson, Harrison Stewart, Jackson Bradley, Josh Helms, Joseph Buchanan, Parker Chase and Chapman Blevins will also contribute for the Jags this year.

Spain Park will compete in Class 7A, Area 6, against Oak Mountain, Chelsea and Hewitt-Trussville.

Lady Lions seamlessly mixing young and old

The Briarwood Christian School girls basketball team has plenty of energy surrounding the program entering the 2022-23 season. The Lady Lions have a core of solid players remaining in the fold from last season, while working some new ones into the mix that should only add to the team’s success.

“We’re returning four starters and we’re excited about one more year of experience for those girls,” Briarwood head coach Lorie Kerley said.

In addition to those four starters, the Lady Lions will also get Taylor Smith back, who missed most of last season due to injury. The 6-foot-2 senior will be a major factor for her team this season.

Smith said she is excited to take on her senior season and is working to contribute to the team the best way that she can.

“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of her and how much work she put in. She’s a completely different player,” Kerley said.

Smith is one of three seniors on this year’s team, with Sigourney Bell and Piper Eighmy making up the class. Kerley calls Eighmy a “blue-collar” player and noted Bell’s rebounding prowess.

Mary Beth Dicen and Colleen Lehane are the team’s juniors. Dicen has been the starting point guard since she was a freshman and has made continual strides from the day she stepped on the floor for the first time.

“I feel completely comfortable on the court,” Dicen said. “I rely on my teammates and as long as we’re all working together, then nothing will mess that up.”

Over half of the roster is composed of freshmen and sophomores. That dynamic could easily make things difficult, but Kerley complimented the older players for embracing the younger ones.

“We have great younger players and our older girls realize that we need them to contribute,” Kerley said. “It’s nothing that I’ve had to worry about or deal with, because our older girls have done a great job of unifying us as one team.”

Brooklyn Barnett, Taylor Leib and Mia Wilson are the sophomores, while Ann Tatum Baker, Ellison Causey and Emma Kerley are all impressive freshmen that will have significant roles.

Lorie Kerley said the team has worked on decreasing turnovers and is focusing on doing little things well with so many players back from a season ago.

Briarwood will compete in Class 6A, Area 8, with Helena and Pelham. With it being a three-team area, the regular season champion will qualify for the sub-regionals before the area tournament.

“I think all the girls are really excited and it’s going to be very competitive,” Kerley said.

Lady Hornets taking on new challenges

This season will present many obstacles for the Chelsea High School girls basketball team to face and attempt to overcome.

The Lady Hornets have made several deep postseason runs in recent years, including nearly advancing to the state final four for the second straight season a year ago.

In order to do that again, Chelsea will be looking at replacing roughly 90% of its scoring from last year and ascending into a new, extremely challenging area.

“It’s going to be different, but we still have talent and we’re going to be a tough out,” Chelsea head coach Jason Harlow said.

Chelsea graduated five seniors last year, four of them regular starters. Compounding that factor is the loss of Lexi Redd, who was the Lady Hornets’ leading scorer. Redd injured her knee in the regional final game and is expected to miss at least the first half of this season.

“She was such a vital part of our success last year. We’re hoping we can get her back. It’ll provide opportunity for kids to fill some roles and hopefully we’ll be stronger because of it,” Harlow said.

However, on the positive end of the injury front, Chelsea will get the services of Sophia Brown back. Brown was a big contributor to the team as a freshman and sophomore, before missing her entire junior season with a knee injury.

“At times over her sophomore year, she was our best player on the floor,” Harlow said.

Brown is one of seven seniors on the squad this winter, but it is a class without a wealth of varsity experience.

Nora Breedlove, Zamar’ya Cook, Hardy Erwin, Makenzie Fennell, Madison Moore and Redd are the other seniors.

Haley Trotter is back for the Lady Hornets, quickly ascending to one of the team’s best players last season as a freshman. Another sophomore, Sadie Schwallie, is ready to step into the void left by her older sister, Sydney, who ran the point guard position for four years.

Harlow also noted the emergence of Madeline Epperson, a tough player who is “blue collar and scrappy.” Freshman Caroline Brown and eighth grader Olivia Pryor are young players who have impressed in the preseason.

Baylor McCluney, Sydney Carroll and Allie Scott will also contribute for the Lady Hornets this season.

Harlow called moving up to Class 7A a privilege, as Chelsea will now compete in an area against Hewitt-Trussville, Spain Park and Oak Mountain. The schedule also features games against Thompson, Helena and tournaments at Oak Mountain and Pell City.

“There’s going to be obstacles and speed bumps early on, but at the end of the day, I still think we’ll be a tough out if we weather those storms,” Harlow said.

Lady Eagles looking to gain experience

For Oak Mountain High School girls basketball coach Beth Parmer, it’s a new season with new faces, but the same excitement.

Parmer admits that this year’s team is limited on returning experience. But that won’t diminish the team’s goals and aspirations.

“We know we’re not where we need to be, but usually a team isn’t,” Parmer said at a preseason Birmingham Media Day event at Thompson. “We’ve got to work throughout the season to be the team we need to be once January rolls around.”

Once January rolls around, the games get bigger. Area games lead into the area tournament, which ideally lead to a postseason run for the Lady Eagles.

Oak Mountain has talked for several years about breaking through to the Class 7A regional finals, and the Lady Eagles have been right on the doorstep of that each of the last three years. They have advanced to the regional tournament three straight seasons and aim to make it four this season.

“That’s been our goal, to do better than the before, and eventually, you’ll get to where you want to be,” Parmer said. “I’ve seen gradual improvement over the years. We were really close last year, we just weren’t deep enough.”

This year’s team doesn’t possess much returning varsity experience, but Parmer likes what her three seniors bring to the table. Sydney Kate Ervin, Vica Hood and Kathleen Matuszak will play one final season for their school this season.

“I’m looking for improvement this season,” Ervin said. “We have really good team chemistry.”

Raegan Whitaker is the team’s top returner and is just a junior, along with Ella Holt.

“We have a lot of talent. I have teammates I can trust,” Whitaker said.

Elizabeth Butler, Lily Johnston, Maggie Norris, Ava Tucker and Ella Vineyard make up a big sophomore class. Parmer spoke highly of freshman Caroline Kester, who is up on varsity along with Lucy McKeown.

Oak Mountain will take on teams like Helena, Huffman, Vestavia Hills, Homewood and Oxford before diving into Class 7A, Area 6 play. The Lady Eagles will compete against Spain Park, Hewitt-Trussville and 7A newcomer Chelsea in the area this season.

“By the time we get through that grueling schedule, that will get us ready for what we need to be ready for,” Parmer said.

Lady Jags starting long-term plan

This season begins a two-year journey for the Spain Park High School girls basketball program.

The Lady Jags have that luxury because this year’s roster contains no seniors and only one junior. Zyian Heyligar is the oldest player on a 10-player roster largely devoid of any significant varsity experience.

“We’re going to get to the point where when she’s a senior, we’re going to be as good as we can be for her,” Spain Park head coach Mike Chase said. “We’ve got a big core group of sophomores that are on a three-year plan.”

There are only 10 girls in the high school program this year, so Spain Park won’t have the luxury of fielding a junior varsity squad. Chase credits that issue to Spain Park’s other girls sports succeeding at such a high level in recent years and the pressure to specialize in a single sport.

For example, Heyligar plays lacrosse, flag football and basketball. But she has loved basketball since she began playing and is determined to excel.

“Ever since I started playing, I’ve been hooked on it,” she said. “I’m very competitive and I know what I want.”

Charlee Bennett is one of six sophomores on the team, and is the only returner that earned some starting experience last year. She is also a high-level softball player and said time management is the biggest key to juggling everything successfully.

A new label that Spain Park is working with this year is that of underdog. The Lady Jags won state championships in 2018 and 2020 and have been one of the state’s top programs consistently under Chase.

“There’s no expectations,” Chase said. “We’re going to be the underdog in most games that we play. I like those situations.”

Aside from Bennett, Trinity Daniels, Tori Flournoy, MC Hunter, Campbell Busby and Jordyn Corey are the team’s sophomores. Allie Whitaker, Kaden Philpot and Teagan Huey are freshmen.

The team’s lack of experience has invigorated Chase in some ways, forcing him to be more intentional with his teaching of the game in practice and in games.

“We all have to be able to work together,” Chase said. “It’s helped me and they’re helping me, because they’ve been really good about coming in and being ready to go.”

Chase admitted the schedule will look a little different this year, designed to give this year’s players a chance to have games that will help them grow into the season as they gain experience.

“Every time we step on the floor, we’re going to get better and our ceiling is going to be a lot higher than everyone else,” Chase said.

Spain Park will compete against perennial power Hewitt-Trussville, Oak Mountain and Chelsea in Class 7A, Area 6. Hewitt-Trussville will be one of the top teams in the state, but Chase expects for his team to have a chance to advance out of the area.

“Our goal is to get to those six January games [area games] and stay out of the No. 4 spot. Then, I feel like we’ve got a shot. That’s what our goal is,” he said.

Be sure to visit 280living.com each Tuesday throughout the year for a high school sports recap, which will include results and statistics from each team.