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Depth key to L’Anse girls success

L’ANSE – L’Anse High School girls basketball coach Scott Lloyd is hoping he has enough talent to at least contend in the highly competitive West PAC this season.

But he said depth could be a big problem.

“We had a couple of players from last year who decided not to play this season,” Lloyd said recently. “That means the girls we have are going to have stay out there.”

The L’Anse skipper does have a reliable inside player in 5-foot-11 senior center Lauren Elmblad and a good outside shooter in senior forward Abby Hendrickson.

“We’re going to have to look to those two (Elmblad and Hendrickson) quite a bit,” Lloyd said. “They’re both experienced players who know what to do.”

But filling in the other spots in the lineup figures to be a bigger problem.

Junior guard Bailey Froberg and junior Lexis Francois played a lot last season and could solve some of the vacancies.

“Those two girls have some experience. Froberg shoots pretty well from outside and Francois can play inside,” Lloyd said. “We’ll look to them to help out our two seniors.”

The rest of the lineup will likely be filled by two sophomores and three freshmen, however.

Tenth-graders Sarah Dix and Taylor Brown are battling for spots.

“Sarah could help us at guard and Taylor is another player we’ll look to,” Lloyd said.

Freshmen Bobbi Beauprey, Josie Rice and Jazlyn Shelifoe are looking to make an impression.

“With our schedule, it’s going to be tough on the younger kids to find their way,” Lloyd said.

The Hornets meet nonleague foes in Ishpeming, Stephenson and Westwood in addition to league powerhouses Calumet, Houghton and Hancock.

The LHS coach feels that Calumet, the defending Class C state champion, and Houghton are the teams to beat in the league.

“It’s a tough league. Anytime you have a defending state champ and a perennial power in Houghton, you know it’s very good league,” Lloyd said. “Hancock should also be very good. I feel West Iron and ourselves will be further down, but you never know.”

The Hornets open the season at home against Chassell on Tuesday evening.

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