By Chris George
TuckerCountySports.Com
HAMBLETON – The Tucker County Lady Mountain Lions head into the 2023-2024 season with plenty of talent and experience back from a season ago where they came up just short in the State Championship game. The Lady Mountain Lions instead had to settle for the Class “A” State Runner-Up trophy.
Head Coach, Dave Helmick returns for his seventh year to lead these young ladies. Gone from a season ago is all state and 1,000 plus point scorer and 1,000 plus rebounder in Kadie Colebank. Kadie has taken her talents into the Mountain East Conference where she is currently playing for the Wheeling University Lady Cardinals.
However, coach Helmick has yet another Mountain East Conference product to be in guard Macy Helmick. Helmick (5’8 SR) is the leading returning scorer (12 ppg) from a season ago. Helmick recently signed to play basketball for West Virginia Wesleyan College next year. She will once again be asked to start at one of the guard positions, where she showed a season ago she is one of the top all around guards in Class A with her scoring and defensive ability. Brylee Wetzel (5’7 SR) will join Helmick in the backcourt. Wetzel averaged (10 ppg) a season ago. Avery Colebank (5’9 SR) returns for her final season. The Guard/Forward will be asked to once again supply this team with her good outside shooting (5 ppg) and solid rebounding from the wing.
Up front at the forward position, coach Helmick has a pair of talented 6-foot forwards. Ericka Zirk (6’1 SR) returns with three years of varsity experience. ZIrk (8 ppg) has improved each season and looks for her senior season to be her best. She will add scoring and rebounding inside. Raven Matthews (6’0 JR) showed her strong presence a season ago. Matthews will not only be a force on the boards but will provide a strong rebounding presence inside. Between Zirk and Matthews there will be plenty of blocks and rebounds for these two young ladies this season. Katie and Addie Hicks also return at the guard position to add not only scoring but strong defensive play. The twins (5’3 SR’s) were both solid all-around players last year and will be a big part of the team this season. A pair of newcomers to the backcourt this season will be sophomores Makenna Evans and Mayah Gross. Evans (5’6) guard and Gross (5’8) guard were two of the top players on the junior varsity club a year ago. Both will add speed, quickness and good scoring ability to this lineup. Another newcomer at the forward position will be sophomore Maddy Helmick. Helmick will add depth up front where she was a solid contributor a season ago on the JV team. Other players that look to see varsity action this season will be juniors Reagan Herron, Emily Snyder and Sutton Pase.
The 2023-2024 schedule once again is solid from top to bottom. This Friday, the Lady Mountain Lions will open the season at home against Tygarts Valley. The rest of the regular season portion of the schedule features non-conference foes in Lincoln at home on Dec 21st. Charleston Catholic and Tug Valley away on January 12th and 13th, Home with Southern Garrett MD on January 18th. Then the Ladies will make a trip to Grafton to take on the Lady Bearcats on January 20th. They will then remain on the road to take on the Braxton County Lady Eagles on January 23rd. Finally, Tucker County will play the Gilmer County Lady Titans home and away during the regular season. Tucker will also host their Mount Storm Powerstation Holiday Tournament on Dec 28th and 29th. This Tournament will feature Class “AAAA” Hurricane and Class “AAA” Grafton along with Class “AA” Frankfort. The entire regular season schedule can be found on TuckerCountySports.com under the Schedules tab.
Head Coach Helmick is excited for the season as he states, “We have 6 seniors returning and we have 7 of 10 varsity players back, we hope to build on the successful season we had last year.” Helmick also said, “Our depth will be an asset again this season as we look to put 10 players on the floor every night.”
Once again you can catch the Tucker County Lady Mountain Home Games on the Tucker County High School Gym YouTube Live page. Chris George will once again be back to announce a select number of these games throughout the season. For more info go to TuckerCountySports.com.
