The 2012 McIntosh basketball season has begun and will continue until early next year. This year, McIntosh has representation for the boys at the freshmen, junior varsity, and varsity teams. The girls have junior varsity and varsity teams.

Coach Dan Ward leads the freshmen boys’ team, which consists of Malcolm Ambrose, Ulysses Brown, JP Caldwell, Connor Coffee, Jack Hartman, Dillan Humbard, D’Andre Johnson, Tanner Karneboge, Drew Plant, Anthony Pruner, Conner Reynolds, Jordan Rousseau, and Payton Smith.

Freshmen Malcolm Ambrose said, “Being a part of the McIntosh basketball program is a great honor and a huge commitment.” Dillan Humbard said, “The freshmen team is really coming together this year. We should have a great season.” Drew Plant agreed and said, “We’ve been practicing really hard and are ready for the season to start.”

Coach Dave Thomas leads the junior varsity girls’ team. On the team this year is Jordan Barnes, Kylie Bednarick, Jordan Crutchfield, Maria Furukawa, Taryn Gray, Katie Habicht, Imani Hedgeman, Lexi Henderson, Olivia King, Caroline Laux, Amelia Lord, Harley Obsitnik, and Bridget Odom.

Harley Obsitnik said, “Our team shows great potential, and we will have a promising season.”

Coach Robert Page leads the junior varsity boys’ team with Jamal Ahmed, Chandler Birrell, Zach Blair, Nathan Conn, Stewart Copeland, Jason Floyd, Terrence Gaines, Dishon Lowry, Jake Orton, and Brendon Rowan.

Coach Page said, “I expect my boys to give maximum effort with results every time they compete in the game of basketball [and same with school work].”

Freshman Jemal Ahmed, one of the players, said, “Playing for McIntosh is hard work and a commitment, but Coach Page is a great coach.”

Page has big goals for the JV team. “My goal [for the team] is to score 100 points in a game.” The boys were close to doing so in their first game against Landmark when the final score ended at 92-46 in favor of McIntosh. Brendon Rowan said, “I think we’ll have a really good season this year because we have a lot of talent and good shooters.” Page said, “At the end of the game, win or lose, we can say ‘we gave our all.’” Terrence Gaines agreed. He said, “If you don’t want to work, you don’t want to win. You don’t want to win if you don’t want to work.”

Coach David Dowse leads the varsity girls’ team. This year, the team consists of Abby Birrell, Kristin Campbell, Natalie Carter, Christine Cerezola, Brooke Crosby, Amanda Lindsey, Becca Miller, Maddie O’Rourke, Gabby Seiler, Cassidy Williams, and Courtney Williams. With five seniors leading the team this year, (Birrell, Lindsey, Miller, Seiler, and Williams), the varsity girls’ team is an experienced one. Dowse said, “They understand the expectations of leading this program and are doing a great job communicating the message to our younger players.”

The team has a new roster, a new region, and a new schedule and has high expectations for the team. Dowse said, “We expect to play harder and smarter than anyone on our schedule and believe that will translate to success on the court.” Senior Amanda Lindsey said, “I’m really looking forward to this season, and we’re hoping to meet the goals that we, as a team, set for ourselves.” The team had set goals for themselves at the beginning of the season. Coach Dowse said, “Each year, I challenge the girls to set three challenging, attainable, and measureable goals. This season’s goals are as follows: win 20+ regular season games, win a tournament (Whitewater Thanksgiving Shoot Out Champions), and advance to Region 4AAAAA championship game.”

Courtney Williams said, “Our goals are challenging, but definitely attainable. We have a talented team this year and expect to have a successful season.”

Coach Jason Eisele leads the varsity boys’ team with Cole Adams, E.J. Ahmed, Joey Bolen, Rontavious Cox, Robby Duff, Johnathan Hall, Jordan Lyons, Cole Mercer, Connor Nash, Colin Obsitnik, Peter Talisse, and Will Washington. The varsity boys consist mostly of seniors, but freshmen, Jordan Lyons and Will Washington, are on the starting lineup, too. Coach Eisele said, “We have a number of seniors on the team who have been in the program a while and know what I expect of them. They have been instrumental providing an example to our younger players.” The seniors this year are Adams, Ahmed, Bolen, Duff, Mercer, and Talisse, all experienced basketball players. Eisele said, “As always, our goal is to advance to the state tournament and take it one game at a time from there. I expect that this team will get better each and every week with a goal of peaking around tournament time.”

Junior Connor Nash agreed, and said, “The upcoming season looks promising.” Freshmen Lyons and Washington are currently on the starting lineup for the varsity boys; both are excited to be on the varsity team as freshmen. Lyons said, “Coach Eisele gives me great opportunities to achieve great things. I think we will have a great season.” Will Washington agreed, who said, “Our team has a great opportunity to do great things this year. I can’t wait to have four great seasons with the Chiefs program.”

All of the McIntosh basketball teams have big goals for the 2012-2013 season.