Like any new head coach, first-year ADM girls basketball coach Corey Schneider inherits certain characteristics of his team that he can’t control. Much like the ADM boys squad, the girls are undersized across the board.

There will inevitably be times this season when ADM is overmatched in terms of height, so how do the Tigers counter that disadvantage?

“You’ve got to help a lot. It can’t just be, ‘You’re going to guard this person, and only this person,'” Schneider said. “When you’re undersized, you’ve got to help out and you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice some of yourself for the good of the team. We’ll be doing a lot of things full-court defensively to where our athleticism comes into play more than our lack of size comes into play.”

As Schneider alluded to, ADM’s lack of size means that on the other hand, the Tigers are a quick bunch and can use that to their advantage. Schneider wants his team to push the tempo and look for opportunities to score in transition whenever possible. That, too, comes with a caveat — to put it one way, expect ADM’s rebounding totals to be relatively even for several players on the stat sheet.

“The one thing that’s gonna hurt us in running is that we’re going to have to send all five girls for the rebound,” Schneider said. “It’s not going to be we’re going to be able to let one girl outlet it right away. We’re going to need all five girls to rebound just because we’re giving up size at most of the positions.”

ADM’s first taste of outside competition will come Saturday, when the Tigers have an unofficial series of scrimmages at Johnston.