Lady Airedales Building Something

By Kevin Taylor

Alma Schools

At some point, two years from now, coaches will be asking the same thing over and over. ‘Man, is Olivia Hughes still here?’

They’ll be saying it about other Alma players, too.

Save Breella Hughes, the Lady Airedales’ lone senior, coach Chanlee Bottoms’ young roster includes a big dose of freshmen and sophomores.

This weekend, the 6-5 Lady Airedales headed back to Kansas City for a pair of games in preparation for the 5A-West battles coming next month.

“I think every single day at practice, we’re competing against each other, and I think whenever you have this deep of a team, competing every day is leading us to winning right now,” Bottoms said. “And we are young, right, so we don’t know any different. I think that’s a big part of it. A little bit of inexperience is actually helping us.”

Brooklynn Holt, the team’s lone junior, leads the Airedales with 15.5 points per game. But right on her tail, and picking up steam by the minute, is the aforementioned Olivia Hughes. She’s coming off a 29-point performance (7-of-11 from the 3-point line) in last week’s win over McAlester, Okla.

But it’s not necessarily because of Holt and Hughes that Bottoms has reason for optimism.

“At the very start of the season, we talked a lot about roles,” Bottoms said. “What this person can do, what that person needs to be doing. They’ve really accepted it. They don’t care that Olivia Hughes has 20 points or that Brooklynn Holt has 20 points. Jaeli (Morris) could have 20, too.

“We’re very, very deep, and that’s something I’m even learning right now.”

Olivia Hughes is averaging 12.6 points per game, nearly twice the number of points she averaged in 2024-25. Like Holt, she’s an outstanding defender with 2.3 steals per game.

And, because the Lady Airedales don’t have a 6-footer in the middle, Hughes is sneaky good at rebounding, too, where she averages 5.4 boards per game.

And then there are the others. Morris, a sophomore, is a tenacious defender who has good numbers on both ends of the court - 6.1 ppg and 5.1 rpg. Fellow sophomore Madie House doesn’t score as much (2.9) but is a strong rebounder (3.8) and good passer (1.86 assists per game). Haven Baxter, another sophomore standout, adds to the depth.

It’s the little things that give Bottoms and Co. optimism heading into January.

“Last year, we didn’t have the depth,” Bottoms said. “(But) this year, we have 11 kids that we can play at any given time, and at times, even 13 (players). I think that’s the difference between last year and this year. The bench is deep, and then we’re believing in one another.”

Freshman Collins Driscoll (7.7) has been everything and more, Bottoms said. The same goes for fellow freshmen Vilolet Watkins, Sonnie Tally, and Ryleigh Floyd.

Breella Hughes, who will miss the trip to Kansas City so she can compete in a state cheer competition, is also enjoying a quiet but successful season with 2.2 points per game. “She has really played well,” Bottom said.