High Point girls bring experience and talent to 2006-07 hoops campaign

For the last five years, the High Point Wildcats have found a new level of success on the hardwood. Some of that has been strong talent coming in from the youth feeder programs, but a lot of the turn-around rests squarely with High Point head coach Chris Dexter. “This is my fifth season as the head coach at High Point and I was an assistant the year before that. We have been pretty successful in my five years here. We are really trying to build something,” Dexter said. “Over the course of the last five years we’ve been a 15, 16 to 20 win team. So it has been a nice little run here so far.” But before Dexter’s arrival, the program had struggled. “We were 2-20 before I got here. Then we were 6-12 when I came in as an assistant,” the skipper said. “When I became head coach we got some nice players in the system. I got some girls that worked hard in and out of season. We also have a traveling program developing at the lower levels and that kind of helped because it gave us a good level of quality players into the system. That has kind of allowed me to mold the players I have been given and we have really had success with that.” Success that the Wildcats hope to continue in 2006. “We have a team with senior leaders and overall we have some pretty good chemistry, which is always something that I strive for,” Dexter said. “We have a lot of talented players.” That is not to say that the team doesn’t have concerns that need addressing before the start of the season. “We have a pretty solid starting five, but I am looking for a bench right now,” Dexter said. “We have some depth, but we are looking for the players to step up to show up who is going to be that sixth and seventh person for the team.” Also on the list of things to do, finding a captain for his feisty Wildcat squad. “We are looking for a girl who can go out and say some of things I have been saying. Sometimes the kids get tired of hearing me say it. Sometimes when it is your teammates that say it, it can be more effective than a coach,” Dexter said. “I am looking for someone who will be a good all around leader. I am looking for someone who epitomizes another coach. Someone who thinks a lot like me.” The High Point girls have done right by Dexter, who sees no reason to hang it up anytime soon. “I really enjoy coaching girls because they seem to really listen,” the coach said. “They have an ability to really do what you are talking about. And you really get to see improvement. In a way, it is a lot like teaching. Except you are teaching a sport rather than in a classroom. Not that his motives are completely altruistic. “I am very competitive,” Dexter said. “So I like winning.” With the 2006 season about to start, High Point has its winter goals set. “A league championship is always on our mind, and I think we have the talent to do that this year. We want to make the playoffs, which we’ve done every year. The SCIL festival we’ve been fortunate enough to do well in and we won a couple of years ago for the first time in school history. Milestones like that we are always looking for,” Dexter said. “Those are a couple of things but generally we want to be better each game and feel good about what we’ve accomplished throughout the season.”