Springs Valley Community High School

As Springs Valley girls’ basketball coach Marty Niehaus enters her fourth decade on the bench, she does so with an intriguing group of players. Her squad has a few veterans — Brynne Buchanan and Macy Hall were both starters last season, for example — but is largely composed of inexperienced players. She has six freshmen, a few of whom could make an impact for the varsity squad, as well as three upperclassmen who joined the program either over the summer or during preseason practice. Because of that, the Blackhawks have had highs and lows leading up to their season-opener against Wood Memorial and it could be unclear what this group will actually look like until it takes the court against the Trojans. “There have been good points and bad points. The depth we have here, the talent level that we have here, and the energy are all very good. That’s been very good, everybody’s playing hard, so that’s been good to see,” Niehaus said. “The bad point is that we have a lot of newcomers, so some of our older kids or more experienced players are probably going to have to be looking at different roles.” As the Blackhawks prepare to open the season, Niehaus is still working to figure out what her rotation is going to look like. She has a group that she believes will be competitive, it’s just a matter of finding the best way to fit the specific pieces together over the course of a game. “Time will tell, but with what I’m seeing right now I feel confident putting any of those nine kids out on the floor,” Niehaus said. “The biggest thing is going to be finding the right mix and pushing the right buttons, but I keep telling myself that we have all year to figure that out. “Even if I mess it up, I think it’d be alright because I think whoever I put out there is going to do a pretty decent job.” Through preseason practice it appears that one of the strengths of this squad could be its post players. Niehaus has found success with tall, athletic players in the middle — Springs Valley’s all-time scoring leader Jewel McCormick, who graduated in 2020, was the latest — and now after a pair of seasons with undersized posts she has a couple who could make some noise. Maddie Carnes was a force at the junior-high level the past couple of seasons and now she’s ready to leap into the varsity game. Prep Girls Hoops Indiana named the freshman as a Class 1A Preseason All-State Honorable Mention last month for good reason. Standing at 5’10 she’s an incredibly active defender, using her wingspan to rack up deflections and steals, and her leaping ability should allow her to get blocks and rebounds. It’s expected that she’ll also have an impact on the offensive end. Bella Nottger’s one of the new faces on the team, but over the course of her volleyball career the junior has shown that she’s an athlete. She’s still working on the ins and outs of varsity basketball, but at 5’11 with her strength and competitiveness she could provide a solid interior presence by season’s end. Because of all those factors, Niehaus is excited about what that duo could provide her team. “I love the inside game, I love to have a post kid, and we haven’t had that. We’ve had kids who fought their butts off and tried to do the best they could, but they had a size disadvantage in 17 out of 20 games,” Niehaus said. “To sort of have a little advantage there is huge. Bella and Maddie have great height, great athleticism, and they’re willing to play some defense. I think that’s going to be key for us as we go through the season.” Though the rotation isn’t quite set at this point, there is one thing that should be expected of the Blackhawks: they’ll play good defense. Niehaus’ teams typically have a knack for that side of the ball, but with the length this team has in the post and on the wing as well as the athleticism it has on the perimeter it has everything it needs to lock down opposing offenses. “For whatever reason I’ve always been more enthusiastic about defense and I think last year we played good defense, but sometimes we didn’t match up well enough,” Niehaus said. “I bet that we’re going to be able to stop a lot of people [this season], shut a lot of people down. I’m looking forward to seeing how that pans out.” Springs Valley will begin its season on Saturday with a varsity-only contest against Wood Memorial at The Hawk’s Nest and though they haven’t actually competed yet, the Blackhawks believe they can accomplish quite a bit this season. They’ll hope to factor into the race for the Patoka Lake Athletic Conference title and compete in their new sectional as well. “I think that these kids are pretty focused. I think they’re going to take each game one at a time like they should, but I’m already hearing some things where they’re looking to accomplish some special things this year,” Niehaus said. “You have to have that mindset. You don’t want to look too far down the road, but you still want to have that mindset that we’re looking for the big games and we want to face that challenge. “You never know what could go down during the course of the season, but we’re certainly very optimistic at this point and I’m pleased with what I’ve seen here in these practices.” SPRINGS VALLEY BLACKHAWKS Last season: 12-10 (2-4 PLAC) Coach: Marty Niehaus (72-45 in sixth year at Springs Valley, 444-223 in 31st year overall) Players to know: Brynne Buchanan (Sr.), Macy Hall (Sr.), Maddie Carnes (Fr.) Games to circle: Dec. 1 at Northeast Dubois, Jan. 7 at Vincennes Rivet, Jan. 12 vs. Paoli