PARIS- The 2022-23 season was another season of change for the Paris girls basketball program. Former Eagles assistant Jonathan Vire was promoted to the position of head coach, and a veteran Lady Eagles team quickly made the adjustments to their new coach. After two previous seasons of struggling in conference play, the Lady Eagles made the Region 1 tournament in February of 2023. Paris lost a close first round game in the regionals to Flippin, but the program was back on track in a positive direction.
Coach Vire has invested in the structural components of the program to build pride and ownership with the players. A newly revamped locker room, practice gear, etc., have been well-received by the players, and from casual outside observance, fans can’t but help to notice the pride in the program continuing to grow.
RNN Sports had the opportunity to visit with Coach Vire to discuss the upcoming season and to share his thoughts with our readers. The Lady Eagles open their season next Friday in West Fork when they play in the Duel at the Dome Invitational.
We started our conversation by me asking Coach to give our readers a quick rundown of this year’s team. Coach Vire began by saying, “We have three starters back and all three are juniors, Annabelle (Perry), Kaydence (Freeman), and Preslee (Bowman). Then we are going to have Makalie (Carter) as a senior, Abby Yarnell as a sophomore who stepped up big time for us last year. Then we are going to have Lauren Reames, Claire Zeiler and we are looking at getting them ready to play after volleyball season. They are athletic and can help us out. Sandy Privett, Piper Baumgartner, Kendri Martines…so, we are going to have a little bit of depth, guard-wise. That is who we have coming back, and I am looking forward to playing. In my first year here, we had six on the roster.”
Since this interview, Lauren Reames has incurred an injury at the end of volleyball season and may not be available for the first few weeks of the season.
But this year’s Lady Eagles will have more depth than they have had in recent seasons, and there will be a lot of athletes on the roster. It will take some transition time for those players coming over from the volleyball team, but Coach Vire will have more options from the bench as well as more participants in practice to prepare for games throughout the season. On the day of the interview, Coach Vire indicated that there will be 11 players on the varsity roster.
And the future is very bright for the program. This year’s varsity roster is still young and will have several players returning next year, and the junior high program is loaded in both numbers and talent. The junior high will contribute heavily to the program starting in 2024-25.
Volleyball season is now over, and Coach Vire has his full complement of players available, minus the injured Lauren Reames. Unofficially, we hope that Lauren is available by the end of November.
The program is coming off of a good year where the program returned to the regionals in post season play. I asked Coach about what he thought this year’s team could achieve, and Coach very quickly answered, “I think we can make it back to the regionals again. We are shooting to make the state tournament, but I think we definitely have a shot at going to the regionals. Our conference is going to be Cossatot River, it is theirs to lose. They did not lose any players off of last year’s team with the exception of the McClain girl. But they have everyone else back. I think it is them and then Charleston, and us…all of us kind of in a 1-2-3 mix. Booneville could be up there, Hackett could be right there, but I think we are up there and in position to make another run for the regionals.”
Coach Vire continues to make investments into the game to promote ownership of the players for their program. “One thing we did this summer was we got some pictures of the girls playing put up in the locker room. I asked Jayden (Wells) to come in and sign hers, Brailey (Forst) came in and signed hers. I am going to start a senior “Wall of Fame” to just make the locker room a little more “homey” where they see themselves, making it more like an “us” kind of thing, rather than it just being a locker room when we walk in. Then, with the practice gear, we did that last year (upgraded the team’s practice gear with players input) to make us look good, feel good, and play good. This year, we are getting shooting shirts so that the entire team has shooting shirts for the season (worn during pregame). Our new team moto that we are running with this season and until I ever leave the program is “Don’t Quit”. We are having “Don’t Quit” put on them (the shooting shirts). So, every time we are on the floor, that has been our moto. In the weight room, we say, “Don’t Quit.” It is all about getting that mental mind set.”
Team culture is everything with teams in today’s sports world, and under Coach Vire’s leadership, the Lady Eagles are investing heavily in team core values and gaining a competitive mental advantage over their opponents.
As we continued our conversation, I asked Coach if he was going to change his approach or philosophy with the team’s play this season based upon this year’s talent and roster. Coach explained, “Offensively, it’s going to kind of be the same, we’re going to do that dribble-drive with Annabelle to try to get her to the rim. Kaydence can get to the rim, Abby can get to the rim, so, we’ll stick with the dribble-drive. Defensively, we’ll probably stick with a lot of zone. Especially if we can get like Claire and Lauren out there. We can be really long (arm span) out there, so we’ll probably stick with zone. We will probably try to stretch the floor as much as we can with the offense. I’m looking at maybe pressing on defense a little more because we’re going to have a little more depth this year. We pressed some last year, especially with our 1-3-1 defense. We may stick with that, or we may look at some different zone press defenses. But it’s going to kind of be the same set up.
On the coaching front for the Lady Eagles, perhaps the biggest news for the 2023-24 season will be the addition of former Lamar basketball great Lakyn Sanders to the Paris bench as a volunteer coach. According to Coach, “We got Lakyn Sanders to come in and volunteer right now, this semester. Just senior high right now; and then we hope to get her internship (in college) moved to here by mid-January. She graduates from the University of the Ozarks in May. So, if we can get her internship moved here in January, she’ll be with us full time as a student assistant coach for the season. So, that is who we have helping this season. Coach Tencleve (Andrew Tencleve, boys head coach) will be sitting on the bench with us during games. It’s still kind of a process to get it all worked out. But Lakyn has been coming to practices for the past three weeks. That is a huge, huge asset getting her and having her being able to help.”
To wrap up our conversation, I asked Coach Vire if he had anything else he would like to share with our readers and the Paris fans. Coach concluded by saying, “We lost a lot from last year’s team with Jayden and Brailey. Replacing then early is going to be a test. So, early on, we may look like we are struggling as we try to figure some things out. But just stick with us and we’ll get it rolling. I think we will be fun to watch this year just like we were a season ago. So, if we look bad early, don’t give up on us!”
Coach’s last statement was said with some humor. But Paris fans can compare this year’s team with the volleyball team that just finished in the top eight in the state. That team entered the season seeking to find the right combination of players and its rhythm, but, we knew they would continue to improve, and they surely did. From my perspective, I expect the same dynamic from this year’s Lady Eagles basketball team. In fact, I expect this team to be very dangerous as the season moves toward the post-season.
I would like to thank both Jonathan Vire and Andrew Tencleve for giving of their valuable time this close to the season to share their remarks in their interviews with RNN Sports. They are two coaches who are passionate about basketball and highly devoted to their players. We wish both the very best of success for the upcoming season!
