Locked in: MSSU scout team integral part of Lions success

Jan. 17—Their names rarely show up in box scores, and public accolades are few, but the players who serve as the scout team for the Missouri Southern women's basketball team are an important ingredient in the secret sauce for the Lions' success this season.

In basketball, the scout team is composed of other team members who challenge the starters in practice, study game film and attempt to copy the play of upcoming opponents to help their team prepare for that game.

In a recent win over rival and nationally-ranked Pittsburg State University, both players and coaches lauded the efforts and contributions of those players who have embraced their roles of making the starters and those who may see more court time than them better and more prepared for upcoming games.

"Our kids have done a great job of locking in to personnel on the defensive end," Lion head coach Ronnie Ressel said after the PSU game. "Coach Straw (assistant coach Kailyn Strawbridge) and Coach Porter (assistant coach Bryant Porter) do a great job doing our scouting reports and making kids understand how we need to guard. They have bought in and done an incredible job for us on the defensive end."

Ressell also said the level of talent on his bench provides a challenge to his starters each day in practice.

"There is not a kid that can take a break, Our practices are so competitive to the point that sometimes when we get in a game, it's a little bit easier," Ressel said. "They play each other so hard and get after each other. It's fun to watch. Kids like Hannah (Burg), Maleigha (Landers), C.C. (Caroline Crawford) and Kennady (Roach) don't always get involved in games, but they are so important in practice. They are the kids that, in scout, really prepare us for games."

Lion veteran Kaitlin Hunnicutt, whose roommate, reserve guard Maleigha Landers helps prepare starters for games, talked about the contributions from the bench players.

"The kids that come off the bench for scout could probably go anywhere else in the conference and start or play a lot of minutes," Hunnicutt said after practice last Wednesday. "That just goes to show how competitive our team is. They challenge us each and every day. Especially when we are doing scout. They lock in 100%. They know their personnel and they know what they play like and do what they do. We get to see exactly what it's going to be like in a game so we can work on that ahead of time and are not blindsided because we weren't adequately prepared."

Hunnicutt said Landers is the teammate who challenges her the most defensively.

"She always goes hard," Hunnicutt said. "She goes hard in everything she does. We're roommates and she always pushes me each and every day."

Hunnicutt said she tries to remind Landers that her present role is important and encourages her to keep pushing.

"I try to stay positive with her, the same way I try to stay positive with myself when things aren't going my way," Hunnicutt said. "I tell her that her role is important and that I know it's probably not the role she wants to be in right now, but she's proving herself. She works so hard. I let her know that she is making us better and that when it is her time, she is going to be able to go out there and shine."

Hunnicutt also talked about the hardest teammates to guard in practice.

"Maleigha has a nasty little step back," Hunnicutt said. "C.C. sometimes comes out of nowhere. She is our little lefty and she kind of gives it to us."

Coaches Strawbridge and Porter are responsible for prepping the scout team to give Southern's starters the best replication of upcoming opponents during Lion practices.

Strawbridge mainly handles the defensive side for the scout team, while Porter concentrates more on the offensive side.

'Next person up'

Strawbridge said her bench is starting to buy into the philosophy of "next person up" because they are starting to see that MSSU has a lot of weapons.

"I think the scout team is starting to understand that they are a part of our depth and that if we take our starters out, we have kids that know what is going on. I think that is what makes us kind of lethal, because we do have so much depth."

The Lion bench is indeed deep, it has produced the leading scorer in one third of MSSU's 15 games so far this season; in it's current eight-game win streak prior to Wednesday's game against Washburn, the Southern bench has averaged just under 39 points per game.

Strawbridge said she has learned a lot from Porter about organizing the scout team for specific opponents.

"I look at what kids can simulate their kids," Strawbridge said. "I think our scout team is very deep, which helps us prepare for these games because we can better simulate actions these other teams do because our scout team is just so good."

Porter also talked about how MSSU's scout team has strengthened this year's squad.

"Our scout team is so, so important," he said. "Every single day it's important that they are focused and locked in to get our starters and other kids ready. The harder they go in practice, the easier our games are. They are a huge part of our success."

Porter also said he tries to let his bench know how important they are to the Lions' success.

"In basketball, if you want to be really, really good and win a championship like we have done the last two years, it takes all 13. We try to express the gratitude we have for what those kids do and making it a whole-team thing. The leading scorer always gets a shout out on social media, but within our coaching staff and within our team, we show gratitude to everybody because we know how important it is and how tough it is whenever you are not getting the minutes you would like to have," Porter said.

In addition to preparing the starters for upcoming games, the MSSU bench players, many of whom were standouts at their previous junior colleges and high schools, are competing for precious minutes on the court on an extremely deep Lion roster.

Junior guard Morgan Meyers is a juco transfer from Barton County Community College in Kansas and was a first-team all-state selection for Cunningham (Kansas) High School.

Kennady Roach is a junior guard who transferred from Coffeyville Community College. She was an all-state selection for her Vinita, Oklahoma, High School team and was also recognized as class valedictorian.

Junior guard Hannah Burg was a National Junior College Athletic Association All-Region selection while at Iowa Western Community College. She earned first-team all-state honors and was the all-time leading scorer for her Colorado Springs Falcon High School squad.

Willard freshman guard Carolina Crawford, known to her teammates as "C.C.," was a two-time all-conference pick at Willard High School, where she averaged 14 points, three rebounds and three assists per game.

Landers was a second team all-stater for All Saints Episcopal School in Crowley, Texas. She is a redshirt sophomore who was out last season due to injuries.

'Make my team better'

"I want to make my team better," Landers said "When I am watching film, I really study the players so that I can make the exact moves or take the shots they would take."

Landers said her favorite MIAA player to try and emulate is Pittsburg State's Grace Pyle.

"Her game is really fun to watch and it's fun to try and play her game," Landers said. "She takes good shots and makes fun moves around the basket. She's a really good all-around scorer."

Landers also talked about her teammates on the bench.

"Most of us girls on scout work really hard and we study in-depth the opponents we will be on scout team. I'm just excited for the rest of the season. I think all of our girls have done a great job, whether that's playing or on the bench bringing a whole bunch of energy."

And when they do see court time in actual games, the Lion reserves have made those minutes count.

Prior to Wednesday, Meyers has played in 14 games for Southern, while averaging about 11 minutes per game. Her season-high eight points came against Lincoln in December, when she shot 3-5, including 2-3 from three-point land in 16 minutes.

Roach has come off the bench in 12 of the Lions first 15 games and is averaging a little more than 10 minutes per game. She went 2 of 3 and 1 for 1 from behind the arc for seven points against Newman in early December.

In the nine games in which Burg has appeared for the Lions prior to Wednesday's game, she has logged 13 assists and five steals in 95 total minutes.

Landers has appeared in four of the Lions first 15 games for a total of 19 minutes and is 3 for 4 from behind the arc and 4 of 6 overall.

Crawford has played in four games prior to Wednesday for a total of 11 minutes and is perfect from behind the arc, going 1 for 1.

"Our scout team is incredible," Strawbridge said. "They might not get the minutes that they want, but they make our starters or our six kids that get a lot of playing time better. They play better defense than we have gone against in most games. They are incredibly important to what we have going on. Our success offensively and defensively can be credited to our scout team because they have pushed our starters to their limits."

Competition for minutes is tough on this team. The deep Southern bench has accounted for about 44% of the Lions offense in its first 15 games, including a season-high 63 points against Midwestern State on Nov. 25.

Hunnicutt summed up her thoughts on the MSSU bench players who make up the scout team.

"I love them. They are great. They make us so much better," Hunnicutt said.