By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

CEDAR BLUFF – Katie McGinnis and the Cedar Bluff Lady Tigers went through a lot of growing pains throughout the 2021-22 basketball season. It was McGinnis’s first season as head coach. She only had one senior in Caitlin Slayton. The rest of the Lady Tigers were young and inexperienced.

McGinnis is eager to put last season behind her, and she’s hoping with a year’s experience under the Lady Tigers’ belts that they’ll see some improvement during the 2022-23 season.

“Everybody’s a year older,” she said. “We’re going to grind this year, get in shape and hopefully beat everybody down the court. We want to keep our intensity the full game. That’s our goal.”

There aren’t any seniors on this year’s Lady Tiger roster, but most of the returning players did get meaningful time on the court last year.

Juniors are Za’niya Kyle and Hayden Cannon. Caley Bruce and Kija Gleen are sophomores. Freshmen include Kylie Vadon, Kindal Grace, Anslee Evans, Rylie Walker and Janaya Higgins.

“I feel better about things,” McGinnis, a 2014 Cedar Bluff graduate said. “I love that I’m growing with them. I think that makes us closer as a program. I want us to keep growing and not be content with where we are.”

Kyle said the Lady Tigers got closer with each other during the summer.

“Even though we got three weeks together, I feel like we bonded and become a stronger team within that time span,” she said. “I’m looking forward to this season, seeing how we grow even more.”

A familiar face returning to both the Lady Tiger and Tiger boys basketball programs is Johnny Amison. Amison spent the past two seasons at Gaston as the boys head coach.

“I’m super thankful to have (boys basketball) coach (Johnny) Amison back. He pretty much taught me everything I know about basketball,” McGinnis said. “If I’m struggling with something, he’s always super helpful, showing me drills and things like that.”

Mandy Walker also returns to help McGinnis as a Lady Tiger assistant.

The Lady Tigers open the 2022-23 season on Thursday at home against Cleburne County. They compete in Class 1A, Area 12 with Coosa Christian, Gaylesville, Jacksonville Christian and Spring Garden.

“I have high expectations for us in our area,” McGinnis said. “I think Coosa Christian was a fun game for us to play last year, so that’ll be fun again. Gaylesville is always a fun, competitive game. I don’t know much about JCA, and Spring Garden is Spring Garden.

“This is a fun group. There’s never a dull moment with them. Before and after practice, we talk about a couple of good things from it. We have to find those. There are so many negative things that go on, not necessarily at practice, but every day in the world. I just want them to find something positive, learn from the situation and then grow from it. That’s what I want them to do, not get so down on themselves.”