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 Randy Wrenn | The Daily Herald Former Chaloner Head coach Gerald Rook moves to the high school ranks as he takes over the reins for the varsity Lady Yellow Jackets. |
CMS won the title during both seasons in which was the head coach and now he reunites with that group of players and inherits a veteran group of girls who have played a lot of high school basketball under former coach Gary Edwards.
“They have all improved a good bit,” Rook said about reuniting with his middle school group. “It’s actually been a little bit easier for them understanding the things that we are trying to do. For the older girls all of this is new to them.”
Rook said he hasn’t a problem so far getting the players familiar with his system and the veterans on the same page. “It’s just a learning process,” he explained, adding, “it’s just hard in 13 days to teach them what they need to know in order to prepare for a three day tournament.”
The Lady Jackets will open the 2009 season Thursday night at 8 p.m. when they take on Northampton-West in the Kiwanis Women’s Basketball Tip-Off Tournament. The tip off tournament will be a good opportunity for Rook to evaluate his team against some live competition.
“I feel like we are going to play against some good athletes,” he said. “I just hope we match up well with all eight teams. That should give us a good feel for how we should do in the conference maybe. I think it will be a good learning experience. I think we will get better each night. Saturday we should play a lot better than we do on Thursday.”
After three years in the dweller of the Northern Carolina Conference, Roanoke Rapids can only improve during the 2009-2010 season. Rook’s blend of young up and comers with a core of veterans could be the right combination to get the Lady Jackets back to the post season.
“I think we have enough talent that we can be competitive and win some games.”
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MgoBLUE wrote on Nov 21, 2009 10:08 AM: