As the Lady Tigers prepare for their trip to the Final Four, I’ve talked to the other three coaches in the Class 4 semifinals. The final installment is with Trevor Mosby of Smithville.
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Smithville (25-5)
Head coach: Trevor Mosby
Of the four teams remaining in the Class 4 state tournament, only Smithville is still trying to match its success of last season. The Warriors made it to the state finals in 2011, losing to undefeated St. Dominic 61-44. Coach Trevor Mosby says last year’s run set the stage for this year’s success.
“It just seemed like it opened a door for our program to know we could do it,” he says.
That last trip to the Final Four for the Warriors was 26 years earlier, when Mosby was a sophomore at Smithville himself. He rode the pep bus to Columbia as a student for those games, and now has led his alma mater to two straight appearances as head coach.
But with the Warriors graduating three senior starters, Mosby says he wasn’t anticipating a repeat performance. Smithville starts one senior, two juniors, and two sophomores.
“I thought, ‘We play a really tough schedule, we’ll be lucky to be .500. I’ve got girls with no varsity experience I’ve got to play,” Mosby says. “Then we started winning, winning, winning.”
The Warriors have racked up a 25-5 record to this point. Last year’s squad was 24-5 heading into the Final Four.
“A big part of that is last year’s success, and the girls just believing it’s possible,” says Mosby.
In contrast to the style of semifinalist Miller Career Academy, Smithville doesn’t worry about putting a lot of points on the board.
“I’d say we’re a defensive-minded team. Our scores aren’t always going to be real high,” says Mosby. “We don’t gamble a lot with our full-court pressing.
“Our goal is to hold you under 40 points. We feel like we can score 40, so if we hold you under 40, we can beat you.”
As for the pressure on his players, Mosby says he’s told them not to worry.
“I really do feel like the pressure is kind of off,” he says. “We’re going to go out and play as hard as we can.”
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