2018-19 GIRLS BASKETBALL PREVIEW: CANDOR HOPES TO CHALLENGE IN TOUGH DIVISION (2018-12-10)

Tioga County Sports Report
CANDOR - Early-season results seem to indicate that Candor may have to endure a roller-coaster season - at least in the early stages. The Indians lost a heartbreaker to Section III Class B Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, but followed up with a lopsided victory over Tioga and one-sided setback against Newark Valley.

Those results should tell head coach Carl Kanoff that there's work to be done, but he'll be doing it with group which shows promise.

Candor returns eight players from last year's roster, including four seniors - Searra Allen, Paedyn Whitmore, Jen Hopkins and Emily Henry. Allen was an IAC South Small School all-star last season.

"All four are program girls and honor students, meaning they bring a lot of experience, leadership, and intellect to the game," Kanoff said. "The statistical leader of that group is Searra Allen. Last season, Allen averaged 11 points, six rebounds and five steals per game. Like last season, Searra is instrumental to our defensive schemes and transition game."

Joining Allen from last season's starting lineup is sophomore Braelyn Hornick, who averaged eight points and six rebounds per game.

"She, along with Jennah Kareem, have taken over some of the roles vacated by (graduate) Shaylin Heidl," said Kanoff.

Hornick led the team in scoring and rebounding against VVS in the season opener.

"Sophomore Kadrianna Foster, and juniors Kareem and Kilie Streeter all saw time at various positions last year, improving their games as the season wore on," Kanoff said.

The lone newcomer to the roster is freshman Brooke Wilcox.

"She will see time in our guard rotation and looks to have made a seamless transition to the varsity level," said Kanoff.

"A big obstacle to overcome is losing Shaylin Heidl to graduation," Kanoff said. Heidl was last year's team MVP, a division all-star and an all-state team honorable mention.

"Shaylin averaged 20 points and nine rebounds per game and was not only our best inside player, but was incredibly important to our transition game," Kanoff said. "You don't expect to replace a player of Shay's caliber, so we have adjusted some of our sets in hopes that a couple of the returners can combine for that production

Candor went 6-9 in IAC play and 10-10 overall last season, its season ending with a heartbreaking four-point loss to Southern Cayuga in the Section IV Class D quarterfinals. The 2017-18 season saw an overhaul of the program with the graduation of a large group of seniors  from the Class of 2017 and the retirement of longtime coach Norm Szwec. Kanoff, who took over the varsity program, had coached the JV for more than a decade.

This season, Candor has moved up to Class C.

"Moving up in classification means that simply making sectionals, let alone hosting a game or advancing a round like last year, will be much more difficult. All but one team on our schedule is the same or higher classification, so finishing .500 is imperative if we want to see post season play. The IAC did shift us to a small school schedule, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be any easier, as we now have to travel some longer distances to face teams we know less about," Kanoff said. "We do look forward to more games being competitive however, instead of being blown out by the larger schools. Our division (IAC South Small) should be extremely tough, night in and night out. Every team has key returners, including Odessa, who returns division MVP Olivia Grover.

"As a team, we hope to build on last year's success and have a winning season. Like any coach, I would like to say that we want to be competitive in our division and secure a sectional spot. We have a very athletic group and all nine spots on our roster can contribute to every game. If we can take care of the ball, make good decisions, and play solid defense, we should have a very successful season."