A slow start and a near-constant Jefferson County North offensive attack was the coal in the Christmas stocking of the Oskaloosa varsity girls’ basketball team Dec. 19.
The Chargers and sophomore standout Jordan Kramer capitalized on that slow start and commanded most of the game en route to a 58-41 victory for a third straight Delaware Valley League Preseason Tournament title. That streak will live in perpetuity as this is set to be the final year for the DVL tourney with the addition of ACCHS and Maur Hill Mount Academy to make the league 14 teams next season.
JCN had an advantage in most if not all facets of the game as they outrebounded the Bears, 28-27, and forced 15 turnovers while committing only 11.
The game belonged to the Chargers from the opening tip as senior forward Mallory GrandPre tapped the ball to Kramer, who drove for a layup to get the scoring started. Senior guard Sara Navinskey drilled a 3-pointer on the Chargers’ next possession and GrandPre and Kramer would add 4 more points to force an Oskaloosa timeout with a 9-0 North lead and 4:20 to play in the first quarter. Bears senior Kyra Coffman scored on a jumper coming off the timeout and sophomore forward Rachel Schmanke hit a short jumper to cut the lead to 9-4 as JCN went several minutes of game time without a score. GrandPre finished the quarter with two free throws and a jumper to give North back the 9-point lead at 13-4 entering the second quarter.
North stayed hot to start the second quarter as a 10-2 run made it 23-6 JCN. The quarter would belong to Kramer as she scored 14 points in the period compared to only 11 for the Bears as a team. The Bears pared the lead to 12 but Kramer scored the Chargers’ last 6 points of the half to make it 31-15 North at halftime.
The Bears put their offensive woes behind them coming out in the second half as junior guard Hailey Kelly started the third quarter with a 3-pointer. The score kickstarted a 16-point output for Oskaloosa in the quarter, but North almost kept pace with 14 points to allow only 2 points to be trimmed off the Charger lead. Oskaloosa cut the lead to 11 but North stretched it back to 15 and settled for a 45-31 lead entering the final quarter.
Needing a big offensive quarter to come back, the Bears didn’t get their first score of the fourth quarter until nearly the 6-minute mark as sophomore guard Haley Pfau nailed a 3-pointer. Kramer matched the score with a baseline 3-pointer to make the lead 16 at 50-34 North. The Bears couldn’t make much headway thereafter as a late Pfau 3-pointer made the final score 58-41 North.
Kramer led all players with 25 points in the game and added 4 rebounds. GrandPre scored 10 points, including going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, and added 9 rebounds with 2 steals and 3 blocks for the Chargers. Junior forward Katie Noll added 10 points, all in the second half, with Navinskey scoring 9 points with 5 rebounds.
The Bears were led by a good night from Pfau, who had 19 points with 5 rebounds. Kelly scored 8 points with 6 rebounds and 3 steals, Coffman added 8 points, and Schmanke scored 6 points with 9 rebounds for Oskaloosa.
The win improved North’s record to 4-0 while dropping the Bears to 3-1.
North coach Steve Noll said he was very pleased with his team’s performance coming off a narrow opening-round win over Troy and a solid semifinal victory over KC Christian. He expressed the need for more practice after the KCC win and said the work had paid off Saturday.
“(Practice) did us a little better than I thought it might,” Noll said with a chuckle. “We gave them some second chances at times. One of our goals coming in was to control the boards and I thought we did that the second half. The girls really played well.
“I think Oskaloosa is a quicker team then we are, but we looked quicker tonight. I think that start helped our confidence a lot. They started out kinda tentative and we were attacking, and that’s pretty much the opposite of how we were in the Troy game. All around, having four players in double figures, I’ll take that any game. This is a fun group to coach. I like to say it seems like they could go without us coaches. They listen to me, and I trust their input. This was one of our goals, we knew it was the last one, and we wanted to get it.”
In other county girls’ action Saturday, McLouth fell to Jackson Heights, 41-36, in the fifth-place game to fall to 2-3.
In boys’ action, Pleasant Ridge took the title over KC Christian, 54-48, in overtime. Oskaloosa defeated Horton, 50-31, for fifth place behind 17 points from junior Adam Bowser, 14 points from junior Levi Wade and 10 points from senior Brandon Barnes. The Bears are 4-1. McLouth defeated Doniphan West, 61-45, for seventh place behind 24 points from senior Cole Batman and 12 points from junior Trevor Roberts to move to 2-3.
Monday, December 28, 2009
County girls hoops preview 2009
Two new coaches join the ranks of the county high school girls’ basketball coaches as the county’s six teams follow up what was a notable 2008-09 season.
One team, Jefferson County North, finished last season with an undefeated regular season record, only to get beaten in the substate semifinals to finish 21-1, while another, Oskaloosa, posted only three regular-season losses and came within a game of the state tournament to finish 19-4. Jefferson West also had a winning season at 15-7, McLouth finished with a .500 winning percentage at 11-11, and only Valley Falls and Perry-Lecompton suffered down years at 9-13 and 3-17, respectively.
West and McLouth hired new coaches for the 2009-10 season in Steve Stallbaumer and Robert Good, respectively. Good is returning to coaching after almost 20 years away from the job following a seven-year stint at Sabetha in the 1980s. Stallbaumer comes to West as both coach and school counselor after a year as girls coach at El Dorado.
Following is a capsule review of each team entering the season in order of last season’s record.
JCN
Coach: Steve Noll, fifth year
Last season: 21-1
Noll is looking to reload with the Chargers this year as the team lost some key seniors from last season’s stellar squad, but returns quite a bit of firepower.
There are 22 girls out at North, including three seniors. The seniors – guard Sara Navinskey, forward Mallory GrandPre, and guard Beth Anne Brickell – have been a key part of the Chargers’ resurgence in recent years but Navinskey and Brickell are coming back off knee injuries that derailed their 2008-09 seasons.
“Losing the four seniors we lost costs us a big luxury we had last season in bringing people off the bench,” Noll said. “Right now we’re getting quality time from Anna Kern off the bench but we need a few others to step up. I think we were outplayed by Troy the other night all the way around other than in points.”
Noll said Navinskey and Brickell are at 100 percent in their comeback from injuries, but another Brickell, sophomore guard Kate, suffered a knee injury this summer and won’t return until after the Christmas break. Joining the group on the varsity roster are junior forward Katie Noll and sophomore guard and forward Jordan Kramer, both of whom contributed to the Chargers’ 2008-09 undefeated run, junior guard and forward Kern, freshman guard Kymee Noll, junior guard Gage Funk, and junior post player Kelsey Deviney.
“I’d like to think our strengths are pressure defense and pushing the ball up the court, but we’re not quite there yet,” Noll said. “We’ve got a long way to go before those are big strengths.”
Noll had a hard time picking a favorite in what he considers a tough DVL this season.
“There are a whole bunch of teams that are pretty comparable,” he said. “I think those top eight or nine teams could be right there with each other.”
North had a good win over Maur Hill Mt. Academy and a tight win over Troy under its belt going into DVL tourney play last weekend. Noll was hoping that time would help his team get to the level he would like to see them playing.
“We’ve got people who can step in, we just need to get some scoring off the bench,” he said. “Hopefully that Troy game was just an off night for us. We’ve had our ups and downs, but because of the weather we’ve only had 16 practices and two games. We’re not quite where we need to be, but we know what we need to address and we’ll go after it. The girls are working hard.”
Oskaloosa
Coach: LeeAnn Tufte, fifth year
Last season: 19-4
Tufte returns a small but relatively deep roster for her fifth year as coach of the Bears and has hopes of building on the momentum of a state berth in volleyball this fall.
The Bears lost one of the best players in the county a season ago, Nicole Rockhold, to graduation, but return almost everybody else that had varsity impact last season. There are 16 Bears out for basketball this season, including four seniors. Junior point guard Hailey Kelly is a key returner along with sophomore guard and forward Haley Pfau and sophomore forward Rachel Schmanke. Joining them in the starting lineup are senior forwards Mallory Schmidt and Kyra Coffman, who missed last season with a leg injury.
“I think what we have coming back definitely adds to our ability to continue on from where we left off last season,” Tufte said. “We’ve got more balance this season, and it’s tougher to play a team that’s well-balanced.”
Senior forward Audrey Trowbridge is joined by sophomore guard Jordan Miller and junior forward Katie Barnes in coming off the bench for the varsity rotation. Guard Sam Drinkard is the other senior on the team.
The Bears make the drop to 2A play after a few seasons at the 3A level and will join Valley Falls at the Lebo substate site. Tufte said as far as DVL play goes, she is looking for it to be a challenging schedule this season.
“JCN’s got a good solid team again, and McLouth will be up there along with Horton,” she said. “Jackson Heights and Troy have looked good, and then you’ve got KC Christian and Immaculata in there, too. It’s good. The stronger we can make the DVL, the better off we all are going into substate against other leagues.”
Balance and size are the factors Tufte pointed to that should help the Bears along the way this season.
“We’ve got pretty good size at several spots,” she said. “I’ve been very pleased with how the girls are developing. It’s nice to have that experience at the varsity level with sophomores. Plus they’re a great group of girls, and they get along well. Being able to play an inside game if we need to gives us some balance we haven’t had. I’m looking forward to the season.”
Jefferson West
Coach: Steve Stallbaumer, first year
Last season: 15-7
Stallbaumer inherits a West team that had a good run in 2008-09 but also lost four experienced seniors to graduation.
There are 18 girls out for basketball at West including four seniors. Stallbaumer was an assistant boys coach at El Dorado for three years before taking on the girls’ head coaching spot there for a season. He’ll look to form the team around senior guard and forward BriAnna Ploude, senior guard Taylor James, senior forward Morgan Scott and junior guard Monica Sanders. Joining them in the varsity rotation are senior forward Alexis Lauer, junior forward Tara Massey, and freshman guard Haley Siess.
“We’re gonna try to run with a purpose out there,” Stallbaumer said. “At the same time, we don’t want to throw the ball all over the place. We’ll transition if we can, and if not, we’ll run the half-court offense. Defensively we’ll press some but will mainly be a half-court defensive team.”
Stallbaumer pointed to quickness as a team strength.
“I think we have some athletic girls,” Stallbaumer said. “We’re not a real big team. The girls play hard, and we’ll need to stay out of foul trouble.”
Stallbaumer said, being new to the Big Seven League, he isn’t completely familiar with all the teams but is looking to Holton, Royal Valley and Sabetha to be the cream of this year’s crop.
He said there will be some growing pains this season as he instills his basketball system, but once the team is back from holiday break he hopes to get things running smoothly.
“The girls are working hard,” he said. “We still have a lot to learn. I’m putting in a new system here so we all need to get on the same page. Over these first few games we’ll learn where we’re at.”
McLouth
Coach: Robert Good, first year
Last season: 11-11
After coaching from 1983 to 1990 at Sabetha, Good made a career change and was in the military. Now that he’s retired from that career, Good decided to make the jump back into coaching and takes on a Bulldog team with some potential.
“I had my world adventures,” said Good, who lives in Topeka. “I’ve been to places like Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Once I retired I thought I’d get back into (coaching). I didn’t necessarily want a full-time job, and this allows me to coach without teaching too. I’ve always had a passion for basketball and that stayed with me even after I left coaching.”
The main weapon for McLouth is senior guard Missy Rome, who has been a three-year standout for the Bulldogs. She is joined by the twin towers inside of senior forwards Cassidy Bristol and Kylie Shufflebarger to form the team’s core. One factor not working in Good’s favor is that only 13 players are out for girls’ basketball at McLouth.
“It’s tough – we’re just on the margin of having a JV,” he said. “The girls we have have a lot of experience and they get along great, so we’ll make the best of it.”
The senior trio is joined on the varsity roster by sophomore guards Terri Stewart and Morgan Drinnon and junior guard and forwards Jessie Troupe and Logan Terry.
“We don’t have a lot of depth, and we only have a couple freshmen out, but we do have some positives,” Good said. “Missy has got star player qualities, and Kylie has a lot of agility for as tall as she is. Cassidy is solid inside. I want to play up-tempo and pressure the ball – speed the game up if I can. We’re not the most physical team, and we don’t have a lot of height, but we’re quick. We want to take advantage of that.”
Good admitted he’s fairly unfamiliar with the DVL but looks to county rivals Oskaloosa and JCN to provide some good competition this season.
“I think from what I’ve seen there’s a lot of strength up and down this league,” he said.
All in all, Good said it’s good to be back in the coaching ranks again.
“I welcome the opportunity,” he said. “I try not to take things too seriously, and keep engaged with helping them become better. We’ve got good balance, I think. We’ve got some speed, and they can get up and down the floor. We’ve also got good ball handling and I’ve been encouraged by that. I just hope we can do well. We’ll compete. We’ve got some tough competition but the girls are positive and they have a good feel for the game. We’ll be OK.”
Valley Falls
Coach: Todd Gish, fifth year
Last season: 9-13
Gish and the Dragons have the pieces for a solid team this season – it’s a matter of putting them together that’s going to take some time according to the coach.
The Dragons have 19 girls out for basketball, including four seniors. Four experienced seniors were lost to graduation a year ago and Gish is looking for some scoring help at the varsity level. Junior standout guard Abbey Kearney had scored half of the team’s points through the first three games.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that are interchangeable, almost,” Gish said. “I figured we’d struggle a little bit this year as far as scoring, and defensively we’re not where I’d like to be. That’s mainly because we’ve spent an inordinate amount of time working on offense.”
Kearney is joined by senior forward Bethany Myers, senior guard and forward Bailey Sherretts, junior point guard Morgan Streeter and junior forward Kaitlyn Speer in the Dragons’ starting five, with junior guard Monique Emery, senior forward Courtnie Watson, senior guard Skylar Nichols, junior forward Jade Edmonds and sophomore guard Macie Herrig coming off the bench.
“We just need to find one person who can get close to double figures in scoring every night, and that would be a big help,” Gish said. “Our seniors and juniors have been really going out of their way to practice hard and set an example. There have been times in the past that hasn’t been the case, and things have been kind of lax. I think it’ll pay off for them and pay off in terms of showing the younger girls, too, how it needs to be done.”
Gish pointed to JCN, Oskaloosa, and KC Christian as the DVL frontrunners for this season with Jackson Heights potentially also in the mix.
“There are a lot of pretty solid teams in the league this year,” Gish said. “There aren’t a lot of heavy hitters but there aren’t any cupcakes either.”
Experience may be the team’s biggest need in the early going as several players haven’t seen much varsity time going into the season. Gish said that the team has practiced well, which gives him hope for better things to come as the calendar turns to 2010.
“We definitely need the practices,” Gish said. “We’ve been shooting better in practice than in games so far, but I think as we keep moving along, things will even out. I was hoping we’d be better defensively, but we’re not there yet. In order for us to be successful, we’ll have to be better there. We have a little ways to go in a lot of areas. We just need to have all five players on the court on the same page at the same time.”
Perry-Lecompton
Coach: Justin Mayer, second year
Last season: 3-17
Mayer and the Kaws are looking to take a step forward in his second year as coach with only two seniors lost from last year’s squad.
A surge in numbers could help Mayer’s cause as he has 26 girls out for basketball this season, including six seniors. He is counting on a group of experienced players to help lead the Kaws to bigger and better things in the 2009-10 campaign. Leading the way are senior post player Katie Volle, junior guard Abbey Bays and senior forward Jessica Christman. They are joined at the varsity level by senior guard Emma Gantz, senior guard Katie Hirsch, junior guard Taylor Akagi, sophomore guard Natasha Carver, senior post player Katherine Frye and senior post player Angel Bayless.
“We’re counting on several players, especially Katie (Volle), and Jessica has also taken a step forward going into the season,” Mayer said. “I think defense is a strength, because we can mix it up, and there are a wide variety of offensive things we can do. I’ve bombarded them with offensive sets. I told them I think we have more offensive things I’ve asked them to learn for certain situations than anybody else in the state.”
The focus is on improvement for the Kaws despite a tough road to hoe in the Kaw Valley League. Mayer said he is looking to 5A teams Lansing and Mill Valley to lead the league this season, and said Piper also seems to have improved from last season.
“Our goal is to finish better than we did last year, and I think it would take a lot of things going wrong not to do that,” Mayer said. “We feel like we can finish in the top half of the league. That’s our goal.”
As it is, Mayer is hoping a year of instilling his system last season pays off as this season progresses.
“They’ve taken to my system,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll run and gun with anybody – we’ll probably slow the game down a lot. Defensively we’ll need to be there every night. We want to go into substate feeling good, and I think we can do that.”
One team, Jefferson County North, finished last season with an undefeated regular season record, only to get beaten in the substate semifinals to finish 21-1, while another, Oskaloosa, posted only three regular-season losses and came within a game of the state tournament to finish 19-4. Jefferson West also had a winning season at 15-7, McLouth finished with a .500 winning percentage at 11-11, and only Valley Falls and Perry-Lecompton suffered down years at 9-13 and 3-17, respectively.
West and McLouth hired new coaches for the 2009-10 season in Steve Stallbaumer and Robert Good, respectively. Good is returning to coaching after almost 20 years away from the job following a seven-year stint at Sabetha in the 1980s. Stallbaumer comes to West as both coach and school counselor after a year as girls coach at El Dorado.
Following is a capsule review of each team entering the season in order of last season’s record.
JCN
Coach: Steve Noll, fifth year
Last season: 21-1
Noll is looking to reload with the Chargers this year as the team lost some key seniors from last season’s stellar squad, but returns quite a bit of firepower.
There are 22 girls out at North, including three seniors. The seniors – guard Sara Navinskey, forward Mallory GrandPre, and guard Beth Anne Brickell – have been a key part of the Chargers’ resurgence in recent years but Navinskey and Brickell are coming back off knee injuries that derailed their 2008-09 seasons.
“Losing the four seniors we lost costs us a big luxury we had last season in bringing people off the bench,” Noll said. “Right now we’re getting quality time from Anna Kern off the bench but we need a few others to step up. I think we were outplayed by Troy the other night all the way around other than in points.”
Noll said Navinskey and Brickell are at 100 percent in their comeback from injuries, but another Brickell, sophomore guard Kate, suffered a knee injury this summer and won’t return until after the Christmas break. Joining the group on the varsity roster are junior forward Katie Noll and sophomore guard and forward Jordan Kramer, both of whom contributed to the Chargers’ 2008-09 undefeated run, junior guard and forward Kern, freshman guard Kymee Noll, junior guard Gage Funk, and junior post player Kelsey Deviney.
“I’d like to think our strengths are pressure defense and pushing the ball up the court, but we’re not quite there yet,” Noll said. “We’ve got a long way to go before those are big strengths.”
Noll had a hard time picking a favorite in what he considers a tough DVL this season.
“There are a whole bunch of teams that are pretty comparable,” he said. “I think those top eight or nine teams could be right there with each other.”
North had a good win over Maur Hill Mt. Academy and a tight win over Troy under its belt going into DVL tourney play last weekend. Noll was hoping that time would help his team get to the level he would like to see them playing.
“We’ve got people who can step in, we just need to get some scoring off the bench,” he said. “Hopefully that Troy game was just an off night for us. We’ve had our ups and downs, but because of the weather we’ve only had 16 practices and two games. We’re not quite where we need to be, but we know what we need to address and we’ll go after it. The girls are working hard.”
Oskaloosa
Coach: LeeAnn Tufte, fifth year
Last season: 19-4
Tufte returns a small but relatively deep roster for her fifth year as coach of the Bears and has hopes of building on the momentum of a state berth in volleyball this fall.
The Bears lost one of the best players in the county a season ago, Nicole Rockhold, to graduation, but return almost everybody else that had varsity impact last season. There are 16 Bears out for basketball this season, including four seniors. Junior point guard Hailey Kelly is a key returner along with sophomore guard and forward Haley Pfau and sophomore forward Rachel Schmanke. Joining them in the starting lineup are senior forwards Mallory Schmidt and Kyra Coffman, who missed last season with a leg injury.
“I think what we have coming back definitely adds to our ability to continue on from where we left off last season,” Tufte said. “We’ve got more balance this season, and it’s tougher to play a team that’s well-balanced.”
Senior forward Audrey Trowbridge is joined by sophomore guard Jordan Miller and junior forward Katie Barnes in coming off the bench for the varsity rotation. Guard Sam Drinkard is the other senior on the team.
The Bears make the drop to 2A play after a few seasons at the 3A level and will join Valley Falls at the Lebo substate site. Tufte said as far as DVL play goes, she is looking for it to be a challenging schedule this season.
“JCN’s got a good solid team again, and McLouth will be up there along with Horton,” she said. “Jackson Heights and Troy have looked good, and then you’ve got KC Christian and Immaculata in there, too. It’s good. The stronger we can make the DVL, the better off we all are going into substate against other leagues.”
Balance and size are the factors Tufte pointed to that should help the Bears along the way this season.
“We’ve got pretty good size at several spots,” she said. “I’ve been very pleased with how the girls are developing. It’s nice to have that experience at the varsity level with sophomores. Plus they’re a great group of girls, and they get along well. Being able to play an inside game if we need to gives us some balance we haven’t had. I’m looking forward to the season.”
Jefferson West
Coach: Steve Stallbaumer, first year
Last season: 15-7
Stallbaumer inherits a West team that had a good run in 2008-09 but also lost four experienced seniors to graduation.
There are 18 girls out for basketball at West including four seniors. Stallbaumer was an assistant boys coach at El Dorado for three years before taking on the girls’ head coaching spot there for a season. He’ll look to form the team around senior guard and forward BriAnna Ploude, senior guard Taylor James, senior forward Morgan Scott and junior guard Monica Sanders. Joining them in the varsity rotation are senior forward Alexis Lauer, junior forward Tara Massey, and freshman guard Haley Siess.
“We’re gonna try to run with a purpose out there,” Stallbaumer said. “At the same time, we don’t want to throw the ball all over the place. We’ll transition if we can, and if not, we’ll run the half-court offense. Defensively we’ll press some but will mainly be a half-court defensive team.”
Stallbaumer pointed to quickness as a team strength.
“I think we have some athletic girls,” Stallbaumer said. “We’re not a real big team. The girls play hard, and we’ll need to stay out of foul trouble.”
Stallbaumer said, being new to the Big Seven League, he isn’t completely familiar with all the teams but is looking to Holton, Royal Valley and Sabetha to be the cream of this year’s crop.
He said there will be some growing pains this season as he instills his basketball system, but once the team is back from holiday break he hopes to get things running smoothly.
“The girls are working hard,” he said. “We still have a lot to learn. I’m putting in a new system here so we all need to get on the same page. Over these first few games we’ll learn where we’re at.”
McLouth
Coach: Robert Good, first year
Last season: 11-11
After coaching from 1983 to 1990 at Sabetha, Good made a career change and was in the military. Now that he’s retired from that career, Good decided to make the jump back into coaching and takes on a Bulldog team with some potential.
“I had my world adventures,” said Good, who lives in Topeka. “I’ve been to places like Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Once I retired I thought I’d get back into (coaching). I didn’t necessarily want a full-time job, and this allows me to coach without teaching too. I’ve always had a passion for basketball and that stayed with me even after I left coaching.”
The main weapon for McLouth is senior guard Missy Rome, who has been a three-year standout for the Bulldogs. She is joined by the twin towers inside of senior forwards Cassidy Bristol and Kylie Shufflebarger to form the team’s core. One factor not working in Good’s favor is that only 13 players are out for girls’ basketball at McLouth.
“It’s tough – we’re just on the margin of having a JV,” he said. “The girls we have have a lot of experience and they get along great, so we’ll make the best of it.”
The senior trio is joined on the varsity roster by sophomore guards Terri Stewart and Morgan Drinnon and junior guard and forwards Jessie Troupe and Logan Terry.
“We don’t have a lot of depth, and we only have a couple freshmen out, but we do have some positives,” Good said. “Missy has got star player qualities, and Kylie has a lot of agility for as tall as she is. Cassidy is solid inside. I want to play up-tempo and pressure the ball – speed the game up if I can. We’re not the most physical team, and we don’t have a lot of height, but we’re quick. We want to take advantage of that.”
Good admitted he’s fairly unfamiliar with the DVL but looks to county rivals Oskaloosa and JCN to provide some good competition this season.
“I think from what I’ve seen there’s a lot of strength up and down this league,” he said.
All in all, Good said it’s good to be back in the coaching ranks again.
“I welcome the opportunity,” he said. “I try not to take things too seriously, and keep engaged with helping them become better. We’ve got good balance, I think. We’ve got some speed, and they can get up and down the floor. We’ve also got good ball handling and I’ve been encouraged by that. I just hope we can do well. We’ll compete. We’ve got some tough competition but the girls are positive and they have a good feel for the game. We’ll be OK.”
Valley Falls
Coach: Todd Gish, fifth year
Last season: 9-13
Gish and the Dragons have the pieces for a solid team this season – it’s a matter of putting them together that’s going to take some time according to the coach.
The Dragons have 19 girls out for basketball, including four seniors. Four experienced seniors were lost to graduation a year ago and Gish is looking for some scoring help at the varsity level. Junior standout guard Abbey Kearney had scored half of the team’s points through the first three games.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that are interchangeable, almost,” Gish said. “I figured we’d struggle a little bit this year as far as scoring, and defensively we’re not where I’d like to be. That’s mainly because we’ve spent an inordinate amount of time working on offense.”
Kearney is joined by senior forward Bethany Myers, senior guard and forward Bailey Sherretts, junior point guard Morgan Streeter and junior forward Kaitlyn Speer in the Dragons’ starting five, with junior guard Monique Emery, senior forward Courtnie Watson, senior guard Skylar Nichols, junior forward Jade Edmonds and sophomore guard Macie Herrig coming off the bench.
“We just need to find one person who can get close to double figures in scoring every night, and that would be a big help,” Gish said. “Our seniors and juniors have been really going out of their way to practice hard and set an example. There have been times in the past that hasn’t been the case, and things have been kind of lax. I think it’ll pay off for them and pay off in terms of showing the younger girls, too, how it needs to be done.”
Gish pointed to JCN, Oskaloosa, and KC Christian as the DVL frontrunners for this season with Jackson Heights potentially also in the mix.
“There are a lot of pretty solid teams in the league this year,” Gish said. “There aren’t a lot of heavy hitters but there aren’t any cupcakes either.”
Experience may be the team’s biggest need in the early going as several players haven’t seen much varsity time going into the season. Gish said that the team has practiced well, which gives him hope for better things to come as the calendar turns to 2010.
“We definitely need the practices,” Gish said. “We’ve been shooting better in practice than in games so far, but I think as we keep moving along, things will even out. I was hoping we’d be better defensively, but we’re not there yet. In order for us to be successful, we’ll have to be better there. We have a little ways to go in a lot of areas. We just need to have all five players on the court on the same page at the same time.”
Perry-Lecompton
Coach: Justin Mayer, second year
Last season: 3-17
Mayer and the Kaws are looking to take a step forward in his second year as coach with only two seniors lost from last year’s squad.
A surge in numbers could help Mayer’s cause as he has 26 girls out for basketball this season, including six seniors. He is counting on a group of experienced players to help lead the Kaws to bigger and better things in the 2009-10 campaign. Leading the way are senior post player Katie Volle, junior guard Abbey Bays and senior forward Jessica Christman. They are joined at the varsity level by senior guard Emma Gantz, senior guard Katie Hirsch, junior guard Taylor Akagi, sophomore guard Natasha Carver, senior post player Katherine Frye and senior post player Angel Bayless.
“We’re counting on several players, especially Katie (Volle), and Jessica has also taken a step forward going into the season,” Mayer said. “I think defense is a strength, because we can mix it up, and there are a wide variety of offensive things we can do. I’ve bombarded them with offensive sets. I told them I think we have more offensive things I’ve asked them to learn for certain situations than anybody else in the state.”
The focus is on improvement for the Kaws despite a tough road to hoe in the Kaw Valley League. Mayer said he is looking to 5A teams Lansing and Mill Valley to lead the league this season, and said Piper also seems to have improved from last season.
“Our goal is to finish better than we did last year, and I think it would take a lot of things going wrong not to do that,” Mayer said. “We feel like we can finish in the top half of the league. That’s our goal.”
As it is, Mayer is hoping a year of instilling his system last season pays off as this season progresses.
“They’ve taken to my system,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll run and gun with anybody – we’ll probably slow the game down a lot. Defensively we’ll need to be there every night. We want to go into substate feeling good, and I think we can do that.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)