Panthers Girls Basketball Will ‘Go Big’ As They Reload For Another Playoff Run Medomak Valley Girls Basketball 2024-25 Season Preview

The Medomak Valley girls basketball team is hoping that they can capitalize on their height advantage to conquer opponents during the regular season that kicks off on Friday, Dec. 6 in Belfast. The Panthers lost 40-34 to Spruce Mountain in a Class B South regional semifinal game last year after posting a 14-4 record in the regular season and thumping York 50-35 in the quarterfinals.

“We graduated four seniors and definitely lost some good guard play, but thankfully we will still have our height again this season,” said Lindsay Vinal, who is back for her second season as the Panthers head coach. “We have a very different team this year, and we’re going to focus more on our height advantage.”

Another key building block in place again this season is last year’s leading scorer Kytana Williamson, who tallied 361 points for the Panthers in her junior year. Williamson has been named a co-captain for the upcoming campaign, and will be joined by fellow seniors Sadie Knight, Lilly Christ and Audrey Jackson. Williamson, who has 738 points so far in her high school career, is on pace to reach the coveted 1,000 point milestone should everything go smoothly. Only two other Medomak Valley girls have reached the milestone in the school’s history: Julie Littlefield (1992) with 1,034; and Alanna Voss (2012) with 1,023.

Panthers that are expected to join Williamson in the starting lineup and log a lot of minutes on the court include Knight, Jackson, junior Chloe Fox, and junior Claudia Feeley. Jackson is a 3-point sniper that posted 97 points for fourth best on the team in 2023-24.

“Sadie Knight has really put in the extra work during the offseason and it is showing,” said Vinal. “Our tall forwards, Chloe Fox and Claudia Feeley, have grown their skills and continue to progress in every game we play.”

Vinal noted that they have sophomores and freshmen on the roster that are all gaining confidence and moving in the right direction to be threats in the regular season.

“Anna Reed is an incoming freshman that has been doing very good things so far this preseason,” said Vinal. “I believe that the more confidence she gains, the more she will impact games.”

Other Panthers competing for playing time coming off the bench include Christ, juniors Rachel Richardson and Alyssa Smith, sophomores Rachel Barbour, Molly Emerson and Brooke McNelly, and freshman Sienna Lee.

“The keys to our season will be playing as a team, and limiting turnovers and missed layups,” said Vinal. “If we can utilize our bigs the way we have drawn up, that height advantage will help boost us to success.”