Wanted: The Kenton Ridge girls basketball team needs a leader, a rebounder, an assist-maker and some scorers to replace Mariah Harris and Lindsey Fenwick.

Cougars coach Ed Foulk has to replace over half of his offense this season, and Harris also led the team last year in assists, steals and rebounds. But Foulk says his team – one he says could be the best shooting team he has coached – can again compete for a Central Buckeye Conference title. He says he has players capable of filling those roles in place of Harris, who is playing at Michigan State, and Fenwick, who is at Army.

“Last year if we ever had a problem, ‘Here Mariah, you do it.’ There’s no Mariah,” Foulk said. “So that’s going to be the question, ‘Who becomes the Mariah this year? Who’s going to be the go-to person.’ ”

Foulk says he has a starting seven: seniors Paige McCrary and Sam Wiederkehr; juniors Stefanie Davis and Sara Thornton; sophomores Baylee Bennett and Aianna Wilson, and freshman Sydney Bates.

“We’ve still got to find our chemistry between all of us,” McCrary said. “Right now it seems like everyone wants to do their own thing, but we’ll get it together.”

McCrary is the top returning scorer at 15.2 points per game. She was one of the area’s top 3-point shooters last year at 42.2 percent. McCrary, who says she is a quiet person, also wants to be a leader with encouraging words in huddles and by example as the fastest sprinter in practice.

“Our assistant coach is always pushing for somebody to step up, so I figured why not me,” McCrary said of second-year assistant Stephanie Bennett. “My parents are always telling me to step up and tell them what to do.”

McCrary has some good ideas about what some of her teammates need to do to help build that chemistry.

For Davis, the starting point guard: “She just needs to be more aggressive. She needs to talk and boss everyone around and tell them where to go more. She just needs to take more control.”

For Bates, who has averaged a team-high 21 points in four scrimmages: “She needs to see the floor better. Coming out of middle school she was the No. 1 – did everything.”

For herself: “I’m still working on the leadership role and trying to get everybody together.”

One thing the Cougars do have figured out is that they can win from the 3-point line. McCrary, Bates, Bennett, Wilson and Davis have the green light. Wilson, a guard, is a transfer from London where she averaged seven points last year.

“On nights when we’re hot we might score 15, 20 threes,” Foulk said.

When the bad shooting night happens Foulk will be depending on a defense that he said will be as quick as any he has coached. He wants to get back to more of a pressing style that the Cougars used to play and take advantage of Thornton’s speed in the backcourt.