The Lyon County Lady Lyons basketball team finished last season with a very impressive 21-10 record, going 12-7 in region games, and 6-3 in district games. First-year head coach Ricky Baker thinks they can improve on last year and put even more people on notice.
“We want to be able to put ourselves in a position to play for a Region Championship.”
He kept it short and sweet, but he made it abundantly clear what his team’s goal is this season after a 21-10 record in 2024-25. And the key to that will be the team’s returning leading scorer, junior guard Piper Cotham. Baker also named some other players who could play some big roles in Lyon’s success.
“Piper’s the leader of the Pride. We have to feed off her energy. Trinity (Taylor) and Courtney (Collins) are Preseason Top 10 players, who we need to play big. Our only senior, Jenna Coursey has looked really good and I expect her to have a good year. New addition, Freshman Lilly Coffman will be able to start for us. Her length and shooting ability could give teams trouble.”
Cotham averaged 19.4 points per game on 41 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent from three. As for Taylor and Collins, they both put up over 10 points per game as well as over seven rebounds, with the latter grabbing over 10 per contest.
Coursey averaged 7.8 points per game, and she did with the highest field goal percentage on the team at just over 45 percent.
With all of that talent on the roster, Baker knows exactly what his team needs to do in order to contend for the top spot in Region 2.
“We have to be one of the best defensive teams in the Region. We have to minimize turnovers and win the rebounding edge. Effort is mandatory. You’re going to have off nights shooting the ball but you can’t have an off night with effort in a game or practice.”
The team shot under 3o percent from beyond the arc this past season, so a few rough shooting nights are bound to happen. But as long as his team can push through and put in the effort, coach has faith that Lyon can overcome and win some games with their talent, especially in the early going.
“We have a good test early with two good Region 1 teams the first week in , Graves Co and Calloway Co. Games with our rival Crittenden Co is always circled.”
This is Baker’s first season as the head coach of the Lady Lyons, as he had been the head baseball coach at Lyon County since the 2019 season.
“I think the first few weeks is going to be a more of a learning curve with me being a first year coach, in how I do things and want things done. I’m confident we will get there but it might take some time.”
The Lady Lyons will open their regular season on Tuesday at home against the Murray High Lady Tigers.
