Deal, Royals face challenging schedule

BLOOMDALE -- Elmwood girls basketball coach Jason Barringer said he took a look at the Royals schedule for this season. He had a thought. "We looked at the schedule, and I'm like 'OK, they're all gonna be hard games,'" Barringer said. "I think everybody in our league has gotten better. I think our junior class, as a whole entire league, is really good. Every team's got a couple players." And Elmwood is no exception. It starts with the explosive Selina Deal, who was third in the BVC in scoring last year, averaging 14.2 points a game. Barringer said the senior has continually gotten better. "I can't say enough about her," he said. "She's worked on her game, she has added different facets to her game. You can tell that she's understanding the game, understanding how to set her teammates up, better than she has in the past. I think those are gonna be key roles for her. If they take her away, she's got a better sense of how we can still score as a team." Molly Barringer also returns after putting up 10.8 points a game last season. Coach Barringer said he's also expecting big things from Keri Irvin and McKenzie Laird. Freshman Madison Laird also is expected to contribute "We're working on a little bit of details here, a little bit of details there," coach Barringer said. "How can we get our third, fourth, fifth, sixth seventh-best player to be productive and to produce for us on a consistent basis? I think that's what it's going to come down to."