Lady Jays set to begin first year under Conway

While the new era of Lady Jays basketball began when Brad Conway was announced as the new coach in August, it officially begin when he toes the sideline tonight for the first time as the third Jefferson City coach in four seasons.

Conway will be working with three returning starters and six letter winners when the hit the road for a 6:30 p.m. contest against Sullivan.

Some of the notable returners include senior forward Nicole Martin - who recently signed to play basketball at Southern Illinois - and senior guard Megan Foster. Lexy Roberson opted to not play this season to focus on track and field after signing to throw the shot and discus at Southern Illinois.

Conway's favorite quality of this season's group is their athleticism.

"This is one of the most athletic teams I've ever coached. They like to get up and down the floor," said Conway, who spent the previous two seasons at Jefferson High School in Festus after 14 season at St. James where he went 299-97.

There are some improvements he would like to see made in the early going.

"Sometimes the decision-making isn't where it needs to be, but that's going to come," Conway said. "A lot of these younger kids aren't used to playing with the older kids, so finding that chemistry is something we need to get on track with the next couple weeks."

Conway takes over a team coming off a 14-12 season, and a program that hasn't won a district title since the 2009-2010 season, nor posted a single-digit loss year since 2008-2009.

It's a challenge that Conway is looking forward to tackle.

"The kids make it enjoyable when they are willing to work hard," he said. "They're coachable and they want to be competitive. That's what these kids have been showing me."

That's what matters most to Conway.

"Overall, I've been very happy with the attitudes and effort they've been giving us," he said. "They're starting to pick up on things."

The Lady Jays will run motion offense but also have multiple sets to run according to defenses that are thrown their way.

Conway expects the seniors to lead the way for the younger players. In turn, the underclassmen are expected to be ready whenever their number is called.

"I tell our kids if the opportunity knocks, you have to be ready to step up," Conway said. "Any given night we have kids that can step up and give us a scoring punch."

Defense will be a priority for this group.

"Defensively, we want to get better because we're going to have bad offensive nights," Conway said. "We're going to have to be able to do a little bit of everything."

In his first few games as the Jefferson City coach, Conway will be headed to familiar territory, as they will compete in the St. James Shootout on Saturday against Owensville.

"It's a really competitive schedule," Conway said. "When you're not in a conference or independent, you're going to have to travel and go places. That's fine."

Jefferson City will host powerhouse Kickapoo in its home opener on Dec. 1, compete in the Norm Stewart Classic at St. Joseph's Academy on Dec. 5 and head to Springfield to battle in the Kickapoo Tournament. The Lady Jays will also host the State Farm Holiday Tournament Dec. 28 before facing local teams such as Helias, Ozark, Rock Bridge, Battle and Hickman in January and February.

With Conway, the seniors have played for three coaches to this point. And he feels for them.

"They're hungry," he said. "They've gone through a lot the last three years. They want to be competitive and they just want their hard work to pay off. And I think the younger kids want that for them. ... The senior leadership has filtered over to our inexperienced kids. They're taking everything in stride. They're coachable, they're listening, they're giving their best effort and I just think they're hungry."

As Conway said three months ago when he accepted the job, he's here to stay.

"We want to improve and get Jeff City Jays basketball back to where it was. It's not going to happen overnight, we realize that, but if we continue to work hard positive things are going to happen," Conway said.