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By KYLE LUTZ
MOUNDSVILLE -- Coach Brock Melko and the John Marshall girls' team had a successful 2015-16 season. The Monarchs went 17-7 and were one game away from heading to the state tournament. They fell to Parkersburg South in the regional final.
"I thought we had a pretty good showing," Melko said about the game. "They played pretty well and knocked us off. Overall, we beat Steubenville when we played them at home. They were 17-2, that was kind of a highlight of our season. We had a pretty tough schedule. We played Steubenville twice, Wheeling Park twice, Morgantown twice and Parkersburg South. Our schedule was pretty tough along with Martinsburg and George Washington. With that challenging of a schedule, I was pretty happy with 17 wins. Obviously, our goal was to get to Charleston and we came up one game short, but I was happy with our effort and we represented ourselves pretty well."
This year, the Monarchs are going to have to play without two players that they had for the past four years in Torie Derrow and Bailey Filben.
Derrow found success no matter what sport she played at John Marshall. Now at Marshall on a track scholarship, Derrow, last year became the leading scorer and rebounding -- both boys and girls -- in school history. She scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds per game, shooting 53 percent in the process.
Filben will also be a huge loss for the Monarchs, who scored in double digits on numerous occasions.
"We're not going to replace Torie and Bailey," Melko said. "I wouldn't ask anyone to do that nor do I think we can. They were great for four years. Now it's kind of starting a new era, I guess without them. It's been different. Most of the girls, especially the last couple of years who have played with them, they kind of realized over the summer they are going to have to play differently. I'm excited and all of our girls are excited to just to show people we weren't a two person team. We still have some pretty nice talent to work with."
There will be many players returning with playing experience for the Monarchs, including Torie's younger sister, junior Avery Derrow, who Melko described as their most diverse player. Junior Grace Frohnapfel, who stated every game last year, returns along with classmates Ivy Henderson, who Melko said was a spark plug off the bench from last year. Every time she went in the game, the energy level rose for both teams. Junior Mackenna Strait, the most fundamental player, who started last year as a sophomore is back. The final junior is Jada Voellinger, who missed all of last season with an injury.
Seniors Kaylee McMullen and Isabelle Harr are back and ready to be the leaders of the team.
The sophomore class has some talent including Shay Straughn. Straughn had a standout freshman year with Bishop Donahue before transferring to John Marshall. Another sophomore who Melko described as the potential breakout player is Katilyn Groves. The other sophomores on the roster are Autumn Johnson, Tahya Stewart and Trish Best.
There are two freshmen on the team, twins Abby and Anna Blake.
"Our biggest goal is we want to improve every day," Melko said. "We have a pretty challenging schedule, which we like. We get a pretty nice variety. We get to kind of test ourselves all the time through out the year playing Park, South, Morgantown, Cambridge. All those teams. We get a chance basically it seems like every week to play one of the best teams in the state.
"I don't really care where we are in a couple of weeks when we start, but as long as we're playing our best ball when March rolls around, and we're playing to our fullest potential by the end of the season and we've improved every day, I'll be happy with the results."
Melko is assisted by Chris Bucon and Tierney Kearns.