Girls Basketball Team has High Expectations

Starting his fifth season as the girls' basketball coach, Brian Sopata has high expectations for his team. With last year's 12-10 season firmly behind them and only one starter lost to graduation, Sopata hopes his senior quartet of returning starters will lead the way to a winning season.

Sopata's enthusiasm got a shot in the arm Tuesday night when the Ravens Clawson's Trojans in the season opener, 46-30.

"There are eight teams in our league and we definitely have the capability of being in the top three," Sopata said, adding the team has four seniors and a sophomore in the starting lineup. "At guard we have senior Shannon Tingle, who is a four-year starter, and senior Sydney Gossett, a returning starter and third year on varsity, along with forwards including Lizzie Curtis, a third-year varsity player, and Alexus Griffin," Sopata said.

Sophomore Sami Stormont will start at guard and is the team's returning leading scorer, averaging 10 points per game last season. "She's pretty talented and we bring back some a real nice group of seniors that are leaders and hard workers and experienced. And that's why our expectations are pretty high. Last year we were very competitive and battled just about every game. This year we think we're just as good and want to get over the hump."

Sopata will be looking for senior Melissa Lankin to come off the bench as his "sixth man" at center "who will get some quality minutes this year." The rest of the bench will be comprised of juniors. Sopata looks for his team to "control the ball and get up and down the floor. Our style of play really starts with defense." With plans to defend hard and get up in team's faces, he hopes to work in transition and get some turnovers and run.

Looking to work the three-point arc, Sopata is planning on Stormont to knock down some shots from long range, as well as Gossett. But as high as his expectations are for his team on the floor, Sopata has high expectations for them off the floor.

"We talk about the big picture and learning in life," he explained. "We have four things that we work to instill in our team. First, you show up on time and you work hard. No. 2 is you play for your teammates – your success is their success. Third is to understand what your role is and fourth is believe in what we do."

While Sopata hopes to instill this philosophy into each player, he's seen progress in his time on the bench.

"We talk about how those things apply in life," he said. "It's taken some time but right now it's been a joy coaching these kids because they get it. It's a beautiful thing to go into a practice and the kids are ready to work – ready to go hard."

ROHS opens the season at 7 p.m. Tuesday, traveling to Clawson to take on the Trojans.