Willard legend takes over as coach

WILLARD — A familiar last name will roam the Willard girls basketball sidelines this season. Alainna Bedingfield takes over for Barry Pfahl, who led the Crimson Flashes to a pair of district titles in the last five seasons. The former Alainna Buurma is a 2000 Willard graduate, and one of the top players in program history. She was All-Ohio first team and Northwest District Player of the Year as a senior in 2000, and was All-Ohio third team as a junior. Playing under Pfahl, she helped the Flashes to 54 wins and a district title over her final three seasons of high school. She later authored a Hall of Fame career at NCAA Division II Ashland University, where she is one of seven players in program history to post at least 1,200 points and 700-plus rebounds in a career. The daughter of legendary Willard boys player Mike Buurma — and the wife of Willard boys basketball coach Joe Bedingfield — likes what she sees so far from the current Flashes. But it might take time on the court to see the results. "Being a new coach with a young team, there are several things that we will be working on throughout the season and will continue to be a work in progress," Bedingfield said. "Fundamental skills are a focus right now and doing the little things right. Learning a new offense and a new defensive strategy are also going to continue to be progressing throughout the season." Willard's leading scorer from last season — Sy Sivongsak — averaged 10.9 points per game, but graduated. The next leading scorer was 6-foot forward/guard Makinley Schaffer, who is the lone senior for the Flashes this season. She averaged 7.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while making 68 percent of her free throws. Five-foot-11 sophomore forward/guard Reese Bedingfield averaged 7.4 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds a night. Junior guard Caitlyn Weaver (5-5) is back after averaging 3.7 points per game while 5-11 sophomore guard Camryn Wiers averaged 6.6 points and 4.5 rebounds. "All of these girls are essential to our success this season, not only with their stats but with their leadership abilities," Bedingfield said. "Our biggest strength this season will be our length. We are long and we are working on ways to emphasize our length to use it to our advantage." Cassidy Hamons also graduated from last year's team that went 10-14 overall and 5-5 in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division. "Sy was the point guard and took control of the floor," Bedingfield said. "Cassidy was quick and a great defender. We are looking to several people to take on the point guard role this season and have worked on our defense daily to improve our ability to defend. "Replacing them will not be easy, but we are working together as a team to improve in those areas daily." Willard found itself just short in a few games last season. The Flashes lost close games to Upper Sandusky, Lexington, Shelby and Huron twice. "We definitely have some girls coming up who will make an impact on the varsity level," Bedingfield said. "As of now, we have 12 girls and we are still learning who they are and what they can do. "It's important with a young team to see how the new players gel with the returners and we are still looking for the answers on who will make the most impact at the varsity level." Willard will have to improve on its outside shot. The Flashes made just 71 of 321 3-pointers (22 percent). "Being successful comes back to doing the little things daily," Bedingfield said. "Everyone wants to score the points or get the rebound or block the shot, but it is the little things like boxing out, ripping the ball, protecting the ball, making good passes, communicating on defense and closing out properly. "Those are the things that win games. If we want to be successful, it starts with doing the little things every day in practice until they become habits." The Flashes averaged almost 20 turnovers per game. For a team that typically liked to keep the game in the 40s, that was too many. "One of our focuses is getting better at ball handling and handling pressure defense from opponents," Bedingfield said. "Our turnovers were a big problem last year and we are trying to rectify that through daily fundamental drills." 2023-24 roster No.&emsp;&emsp;Name&emsp;&emsp;Pos.&emsp;&emsp;Ht.&emsp;&emsp;Yr.2&emsp;&emsp;Camryn Wiers&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-11&emsp;&emsp;104&emsp;&emsp;Reese Bedingfield&emsp;&emsp;F/G&emsp;&emsp;5-11&emsp;&emsp;105&emsp;&emsp;Mckinley Schaffer&emsp;&emsp;F/G&emsp;&emsp;6-0&emsp;&emsp;1210&emsp;&emsp;Caitlyn Weaver&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-5&emsp;&emsp;1111&emsp;&emsp;Jenavieve Vasquez&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-2&emsp;&emsp;1112&emsp;&emsp;Leah Weiss&emsp;&emsp;F/G&emsp;&emsp;6-0&emsp;&emsp;913&emsp;&emsp;Emelia Tallman&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-5&emsp;&emsp;915&emsp;&emsp;Corrin Gettys&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-9&emsp;&emsp;1021&emsp;&emsp;Daelynn Funk&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-5&emsp;&emsp;1022&emsp;&emsp;Kaylee Barnett&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-8&emsp;&emsp;1133&emsp;&emsp;Jaelynn Striker&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-2&emsp;&emsp;93&emsp;&emsp;Emie Buurma&emsp;&emsp;F/G&emsp;&emsp;5-7&emsp;&emsp;10