©2009 NPT FILE PHOTO

Cocke County Lady Red Shannon Depew.

MORRISTOWN-Cocke County High girl's basketball coach Wade Wester says basketball players are made during the summer months.

As a result, his team wrapped up a busy summer session of scrimmages during Wester's first full summer as the team's head coach.

The team played in a series of four team camps, playing stiff competition, and concluded their summer session just hours before the two-week TSSAA mandated kicked in on Sunday morning.

Wester said the main goal for his team this summer was working hard and coming together in order to get the team over the hump. The past three seasons have seen the team stopped in the regional quarterfinal round, despite posting 18-plus wins each year.

"What I saw this summer, was I saw a team that is close to being great," Wester said. "We just have to do certain things and work on certain things and these girls have to work hard this summer to get over that hump."

Wester considers the summer period critical because it's the time of year where the team can come together and grow, along with honing their skills on the court.

"Basketball players are made in the summer," Wester said. "I know we can get better during the season with all of our practices, but we have to come together as a team during the summer.

"For about the next 75 days we're not going to be together, so I hope they work hard," Wester said. "I've given them a good workout plan to work on, and I hope they get together with each other and grow as a team."

While the next four-plus months turn to off-season conditioning and workouts for the team, which can officially begin in a team setting in mid-August, the concentration over the first half of June was honing their skills against top-flight competition.

The Lady Red travelled to Heritage High, Lenoir City, Tennessee Tech and Morristown West, participating in a number of scrimmages against solid competition.

CCHS defeated several powerhouses over the course of the summer season, including Webb, Upperman, Powell and Oak Ridge, while facing others including Clarkrange, Elizabethton and Morristown West.

On the court, Wester was focused with the change in the starting line-up created by the graduation of Alex Suggs and Courtney Lewis. With the departure, he has elected to go bigger, by moving Shannon Depew from a forward to a wing position and go big by teaming Jalese Pruitt and Allie Sprouse inside.

"We've been playing girls in new spots," Wester said. "By playing Shannon at the wing, means she's got to get comfortable at that position.

"Then playing my bigs down low makes a little bit slower of a team, but that makes us a stronger team and a bigger team, if I can get us defensively on the same page," Wester said.

Junior Jayla Lane also moves into the starting line-up at shooting guard, giving the team a legitimate three-point threat. Lane's ball handling ability also allows her and senior point guard Morgan Buda to alternate duties to maximize offensive efficiency.

Wester also focused on depth creation during the summer period, establishing players to come off the bench, in order to fill a void left by having both Pruitt and Sprouse in the team's starting lineup.

"We have good depth. Baily Davis has so much size and power," Wester said. "She can give our post players a couple of minutes. I think she can, thought she would last year, but she'll be able to give us some good minutes.

"Ashley Gregg comes in and always does the right thing and boxes out," Wester said. "You can always count on her on being in the right spot at the right times. CJ Ball is a great athlete and plays so hard and will come in and give us some athletic minutes. She'll spark us just because of her athleticism," Wester said.

The Lady Red will begin off-season conditioning in August in preparation for the season opener at Lenoir City on November 17.