Candler — (WLOS) There are big shoes to fill and then there’s the void left behind by Emily Carver. The former Enka star, now at App State, left Candler as the schools all-time leading scorer and holder of the state record for 3-pointers in a game.

That’s not to say Kyle Reagan’s cupboard is bare. The Sugar Jets head coach returns two of the top players in Western North Carolina in Hadleigh Dill (16.6 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.5 spg, 1.1 bpg) and Bentlee Chockley (14.8ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.2 spg).

“We’re not going to fill Emily’s shoes with one individual, Dr Martens Boots,we’re going to fill them with a team,” explained Enka head coach Kyle Reagan. “That’s what we’ve talked about: everybody’s kind of moved up in their role. Hadleigh moved up a spot, Bentlee moved up a spot, and in essence everybody else did the same thing.”

The trio of Carver, Chocklee, and Dill averaged 53.3 points per game; the Sugar Jets as a team averaged 63.4. Reagan admits it may not be the Utopian distribution, but it’s also what got their team 15 wins in 17 games last season.

“A coach’s dream would be if you could get everybody to 10, 12, to 15,” he laughed. “I think that’s an unrealistic expectation. I think we’ve got a handful of girls who are capable of doing that depending on how they’re playing.”

Among the newcomers to potentially fill up vital areas on the stat sheet, Hannah Daves played productive minutes in 2020-21 on her way to averaging 3.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

No matter who scores the rock, Reagan has liked what he’s seen from the team as the prepare to embark on the new season.

“They’re work ethic is phenomenal. They want to be here,Hoka Shoes  ,they push me to want to be here even more,” Reagan praised. “Sometimes we’ve got to tone it down just a little bit; but they’re focus stays in check and they’re belief is that we’re going to go out and we’re going to compete.”

Enka opens the season by traveling to Pisgah on November 23rd.