St. Clair Shores

Lake Shore girls basketball team to employ fast-paced style

By Jason Carmel Davis
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Roy Feldman The St. Clair Shores Lake Shore girls basketball team will use a more up-tempo style on offense this year, according to coach Jim Roehm. Pictured is Shorians junior Carly Vargo. Photo by Roy Feldman The St. Clair Shores Lake Shore girls basketball team will use a more up-tempo style on offense this year, according to coach Jim Roehm. Pictured is Shorians junior Carly Vargo.

ST. CLAIR SHORES— An infusion of athletic players has led St. Clair Shores Lake Shore girls basketball coach Jim Roehm to tweak the style of play he employs.

“Much of it will be the same, just faster paced,” said Roehm, in his sixth year with the Shorians. “This year, we’re going to be much more athletic, so we’re going to do the best we can to utilize that.”

Helping introduce that fast-paced style will be made somewhat easier with the return of five players who earned significant playing time last season, including three starters, according to Roehm.

Roehm said his roster will carry 12 players total.

Senior Sydney Morgan, a four-year varsity player, along with juniors Carly Vargo, Paige Plotzke, Taylor LaPorte and Sarah McCarthy, will be tasked with leading Lake Shore in 2012-13. Each of those players logged major minutes last season — a campaign that saw the Shorians stay in the race for the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division title until the last week of the season.

Lake Shore finished the 2011-12 season 13-8, 7-5 in the MAC Gold. Roehm said the Gold was extremely competitive last year and expects that to be the case this season, as well.

“This year, we just need to keep improving,” Roehm said. “Practices have been extremely competitive, and the girls are pushing each other to get better. That will be key for us this year.

“We haven’t been this deep in a long time, and there is definitely a hunger with the girls coming up from the JV team. They want to continue the success we’ve been having the past few years, but they realize they haven’t won anything yet.”

Roehm said he expects Anchor Bay to be the favorite in the Gold, since the Tars return a lot of experienced players. Marysville, moving in from the Silver, will be solid, too, Roehm said. The Vikings are coming off a division title.

“With all that shifting, it means a lot more travel for us, but I still expect us to be competing for a title at the end,” Roehm said. “We’ve competed two years in a row now, and the girls expect to be up there again this year.”

The Shorians hit the court for a game with Warren Woods Tower at 6 p.m. Dec. 7 at Lake Shore.

For a preview on the South Lake girls, see next week’s paper.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Jason Carmel Davis at jdavis@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1107. Follow Jason Carmel on Twitter.