Lightning looking to get better

Chris Yemma

The Sage Hill School girls basketball team is looking to rebound from

a slow start in the 2003-04 season and improve through the leadership

of a couple of seniors.

Vicky Gutierrez and Katie Puishys, both senior co-captains this

season, are expected to lead with the knowledge and experience of

three-year varsity starters.

The Lightning lost only one senior to graduation -- Natasha

Kaliski -- and have two returning 6-foot-2 starters. Junior Haywood

Wright and Puishys will provide the depth down low in the post and be

Sage’s main offensive weapons.

“It wouldn’t be very smart to [shoot] outside,” Lightning Coach

Shanna Renkin said. “We should be able to dominate inside. Puishys

has averaged 13 rebounds a game the past three years and she keeps

getting better.”

Renkin said every Academy League team Sage played last season

would focus on stopping Puishys, which led to more open shots

outside. But the team was still young and didn’t capitalize on enough

of the open looks.

This season will be different, she said.

“We are definitely going to be able to knock down some shots now,”

Renkin said. “[Junior Amy] Jasper is not going to hesitate on

shooting from the three-point line, and that’s going to benefit us.

“I don’t think teams will expect it.”

Sage finished last season 10-10, 5-5 in league, and failed to make

the CIF Southern Section playoffs. But Renkin said a lot of that was

due to a slow start.

Wright missed a couple of weeks in the beginning with an illness,

and when she came back, another couple of girls went out, she said.

The full team didn’t play together until near the end of league, she

said.

The Lightning began the 2003-04 season with four straight losses

and struggled to break even at the end.

When Wright returned after missing the first two games, she went

on to average 11.4 points per game, while Puishys averaged 10.3.

Junior Debbie Yoder-Lee averaged 10 points per game and scored a

team-high for the season (25) in a 65-18 rout of Capistrano Valley

Christian.

With multiple options, Renkin said she is looking for the team to

spread the ball around.

“I don’t want to go to one player,” she said. “We will focus on

mismatches when we get into our half-court offense, but, for the most

part, we aren’t looking for just one player.”

The team isn’t going to rely solely on an inside, slow-paced

style, though.

“We can be a fast-paced team and we are looking to pick it up,”

Renkin said.

The Lightning are scheduled to open tonight at home against

Orangewood Academy.