Knox Morrow Athletic Conference Preview

The Knox Morrow Athletic Conference is an athletic conference spanning schools from Knox and Morrow Counties. The high schools comprising the league include Cardington, Centerburg, Danville, East Knox, Fredericktown, Mount Gilead and Northmor. <strong>5 Players to Watch:</strong> <strong>(schools are as of last year – unless PGH is 100% certain that a player has enrolled elsewhere)</strong> [player_tooltip player_id="269384" first="Beth" last="Hardwick"] - 5’9 Wing - Cardington [player_tooltip player_id="212892" first="Lexi" last="Wenger"] - 5’8 Guard - Northmor Brooklyn Hess - 5’8 Guard - Danville Gabby Daniels - 5’9 Forward - Fredericktown Alex Magers - 5’5 Guard - East Knox <strong>4 Thoughts:</strong> Cardington is a clear front-runner to win another KMAC championship. Although the gap has seemingly been close by schools like Fredericktown and Danville, any team with an experienced group led by [player_tooltip player_id="269384" first="Beth" last="Hardwick"], Kambry Edwards, Karsyn Edwards, Mac Linkous and Dana Bertke should be the favorite until someone knocks them from their perch. Danville does return last year’s KMAC Player of the Year in long-guard Brooklyn Hess. Hess and [player_tooltip player_id="280120" first="Ella" last="Proper"] provide an outstanding 1-2 punch for the Blue Devils, who have as rich of a history in girls basketball as an small school team in North Central Ohio. They are going to need to be much better defensively in big games this year - if they want to knock of the likes of Cardington and compete for a title. Mandy Todd - a 1999 graduate of East Knox - is taking over the girls basketball program for her hometown Bulldogs. Alex Magers and Laura Keith are back for Coach Todd - who also inherits a strong Freshman class that will bolster numbers and add to the expectations for a school that hasn’t enjoyed much girls basketball success in recent years. KMAC fans should expect East Knox to be one of the deepest teams in the league this winter. Fredericktown may be Cardington’s biggest threat, this winter. The two schools know each other very well - and had some outstanding games last year. The Freddies play a brand of basketball that is almost unheard of in today’s girls’ game - one with a 3-post base offensive set. Led by Gabby Daniels and Audrey Bouton, Tim Maceyko’s squad will try to wear teams down and beat them up around the rim - getting them in foul trouble and forcing them to adjust how they normally defend guard-heavy teams. <strong>3 Big Games:</strong> Northmor @ Mount Gilead on December 15th Fredericktown @ Cardington on December 18th Danville @ East Knox on February 2nd <strong>2 Fun Facts:</strong> Jamie Edwards is in his last season as the head coach at Cardington - going out with a senior class that includes his twin daughters and has an absolutely outstanding record entering their senior season of competition. The KMAC is now a 7-team league in girls basketball, with Sparta Highland leaving for the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference. <strong>1 League Champion Prediction:</strong> Cardington