Glen Este senior guard Kelly Simon is averaging just under 10 points per game this season for the Lady Trojans.

Glen Este senior guard Kelly Simon is averaging just under 10 points per game this season for the Lady Trojans.
By Chris Chaney
Sports Editor

Returning a deep and talented roster from a squad that went 19-6 last season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Glen Este Lady Trojans are rolling again in 2015-16.

With four of their five leading scorers back in the mix, GE is undefeated entering the final week of 2015, boasting an average margin of victory of 18.9 points per game over their first nine contests.

“We’re really fortunate as a high school team to have so many quality players in our program,” Glen Este head coach Jeff Click said. “We have a lot of players that take a lot of pride in their game. They put in a lot of time — not only in-season, but outside of the season — working on their games, trying to be the best player they can be. That helps us to be deep and to be versatile.”

That versatility manifests itself on the stat sheet. The Lady Trojans have 13 players who average more than a point per game and six who average 5.0 or more. With the sheer amount of weapons on the floor at any given time, Click said, players need to make sacrifices for the betterment of the team.

“They have to spread the wealth and share with their teammates,” he said. “They understand that there’s other players that can do things. Every body is learning how it works and they’re doing a good job handling it.”

A major reason for Glen Este’s early success stems from the upperclassmen leadership displayed by the six seniors who lace them up for Click. Led by point guard Payton Funk, shooting guard Kelly Simon and forward Courtney Vespie, the Lady Trojans have grown together through lean years in the program.

“When (the seniors) started out as freshmen, it was slim pickings back then,” Click said. “We were okay, but we’re definitely a lot better now. They want to win and that’s what drives them. They don’t care what grade you’re in or who you are, if you can help us be the best team we can be, then they’re going to support them.

“Any coach will tell you it’s always nice when your best players are your hardest workers. They work on their game, they have a great approach and they’re great teammates and that doesn’t even count the stuff that they do on the floor — that’s just the intangible stuff they bring to the table.”

Perhaps the most pertinent example of the Lady Trojans’ win at all costs mentality is that they are led in scoring by a sophomore: Jasmine Hale.

The 23rd best player at her position in the country, according the espnW’s 2018 HoopGurlz basketball prospect list, Hale is a 5-foot-10-inch guard and the daughter of former Florida State University standout Ron Hale.

She averages a team-high 14.8 points per game on 47.4 percent shooting.

Simon, Vespie and Funk all fall in line in scoring behind Hale averaging between 6.8 and 9.6 points per game. Vespie and Simon get a lot of work down low, each averaging over seven rebounds per game while Funk is the team’s assist leader.

The depth of the Lady Trojans has been cultivated over the first month of the season, but as the team enters the final week of the calendar year and moves forward into 2016, challenging match ups await.

“We try to play a solid non-league schedule, not be afraid to be challenged and try to make us better,” Click said. “That’s why we’re playing Kettering Alter, the defending Division II state champs. They were 30-0 last year and haven’t lost this year, so that will be a great challenge for us.

“Then we play Cooper from Northern Kentucky, another solid team. And we go up to Classic in the Country (Jan. 18) where we play (Gilmour Academy) one of the top small schools in the state.”

Click believes that strong out-of-conference slate will prepare GE to make the next step in the postseason, where the Lady Trojans haven’t advanced out of the sectional round since their upset of Sycamore in 2009.