By Kevin Chlum
The La Salle-Peru boys basketball team took a big hit to graduation with the loss of NewsTribune All-Area guard Johnny Riva along with Tyler Wrobleski, Sean Whitfield and Mi chael Jereb.
With those losses and a young ros ter that features only two seniors, the Cavaliers are focusing on defense this season.
“I feel it’s important to hit on the defensive end of the floor,” L-P coach Jim Cherveny said. “We’re really put ting our time and focus into that, because we have to set the tone de fensively. We have to impose our will on the defensive side.
“If we keep working more every day, we’ll keep getting better.”
Senior London Cabrera said the Cavaliers have a good combination of perimeter quickness and size inside.
“I think our team defense is going to be great,” said Cabrera, who added he focused on improving his defense in the offseason. “We have a lot of quick guys who can move fast. Our post defense is going to be good. We have a bunch of big guys down there who are strong and are going to use their bodies to their advantage.”
Offensively, Cherveny said the Cavs are focusing on the basics.
“Right now, we’re trying to keep it very simple and very fundamental,” Cherveny said. “As a coaching staff, we’re still trying to get the right guys in the right positions. We’re focusing on some core principals in the halfcourt offense. We’re not trying to overload them too much right now. Week to week, we’ll progress.
“I do see the ball moving quite a bit. We’ll probably run a little motion. We’ll try to get everybody involved and get everybody some touches. If the ball is moving, it’s harder to guard. We’ll try to get player movement and ball movement and see what hap pens.”
Junior Josh Senica is entering his third year on the varsity and was the team’s second-leading scorer last sea son at 10.7 points per game and lead ing rebounder at 9.6 per contest.
“We will have some good shooters and have a good inside game,” Senica said.
Cherveny said Senica “has the po tential to be one of the better players” in the Interstate 8 Conference.
“Every year we see him get better and better,” Cherveny said. “I don’t want to put too many expectations out there for him. I want him to set his own goals and expectations of how good he can be. It depends on what he gives every single night, and
I think he’s willing to give it all he’s got.”
Cabrera said he expects to score more after averaging 4.7 points per game last season while also getting his teammates involved.
Junior Seth Adams gained experi ence last year and averaged 4.4 points per game. Senior Tommy Hartman saw limited action last season, but Cherveny said he put in a lot of time in the offseason to develop his game.
Juniors Nolan VanDuzer and Na than Boudreau also are expected to be contributors.
“I think we’re going to be able
to move the ball very fast and very quick,” Cabrera said. “We have a lot of guys who can run the court and handle the ball under pressure. Obvi ously once we get it past half court, we have Josh underneath. If we get a good post entry to him, he’s going to go up and make that almost every single time.”
Cherveny said he is letting the play ers set goals for the season.
“Our only goal is to work hard, have a great attitude and try to get better everyday,” Cherveny said. “This year, one thing I wanted to do is kind of step back and have this be more
of a player-led team. The goals are going to come from them. For years, I’ve had goals I’ve put on kids and put on teams, and I don’t always know if that’s the best thing to do.
“I’m going to take more of a back seat role and let them come up with what are things that will win us games and what are things that lose us games and what we want to accomplish.”
Cabrera said he wants the Cavs to compete well in their three tourna ments, and Senica said he hopes L-P can compete for a regional title.
There will be a lot of change for the La Salle-Peru girls basketball team this season.
Adam Spencer takes over as the team’s head coach after Hollis Vick ery retired following a 12-season run that ended with a program-record 18 wins last winter.
The Cavaliers also return just four players with significant varsity expe rience.
“Coach Spencer has made it very easy to adapt to a new coach this year,” said senior Brooklyn Ficek, a three-time NewsTribune All-Area pick who has committed to NCAA Division II Wisconsin-Parkside. “He makes everyone work as a team, and we all get along very well.
“Spencer has started completely from scratch. We have a whole new offense and defense.”
The offense will be built around a trio of returning guards — Ficek, classmate Taylor Martyn and junior Addison Duttlinger.
Junior Bailey Pode, who was moved up to varsity midway through last season, will contribute as a stretch forward who can play on the wing or inside, while seniors Olivia Shetterly (6 feet) and Emma Garret son (5-11), who missed last season
with injury, are expected to provide inside scoring. Garretson can also play on the wing.
Juniors Kaylee Abens and Jasmine Garman, who is new to the district, also will contribute.
“We’re going to try to spread it out,” Spencer said. “We’ll do some motion offense, some dribble drives and some more modern stuff. We’ll
try to get the guards out in space, have them lead the way and create some easy buckets for the post play ers.”
Ficek led the area in scoring last season at 16.1 points per game and is closing in on 1,000 career points. She also dished out three assists per
game as a junior.
“She knows how to play basket ball,” Spencer said. “She can break people down one-on-one. We’re hoping to get the ball in her hands and get her a little bit easier looks. Looking at tape, they’re doubling her at the volleyball line. We’re trying to get her in some different positions, maybe get her coming off screens.
“She can get baskets in a hurry. She handles the ball great. She’s going to be the leader of the squad.”
Defensively, the Cavaliers will play man-to-man after running a 2-3 zone last season.
Ficek, Duttlinger, Martyn and Abens will be solid on the perimeter, while Spencer described Pode as an “energy player” who can guard play ers who are smaller or bigger than her.
“We’ll try to get a little ball pres sure,” Spencer said. “We have ath leticism on the outside. We’re telling them to guard three feet to the left and right, contain their girl, play help, force skip passes and stuff. We’ll try to contest stuff instead of giving up more gaps and more shots in the zone.”
Spencer expects the Cavs to be strong rebounding, led by Shetterly, Garretson and Pode.
“Shetterly is tall and strong. Same with Emma. They’re stronger than they were before their injuries, be cause they had nothing to do but lift weights and rehab,” Spencer said.
“It’s all about effort. If we play hard enough, we should be able to get out and go.”
The Cavs are looking to compete for the Interstate 8 Conference title and peak in the postseason.
“We want to get more comfortable and build on what we did in the sum mer,” Spencer said. “When you have eight new players on a varsity team, you need to mesh. We’re trying to figure it out. Hopefully, we can win a few games while we’re figuring it out, and we can play our best basketball in late January and early February.”
L-P is hoping that leads to the pro gram’s first regional championship since 1990-91.
“I definitely expect us to hopefully go pretty far this season,” Ficek said. “I think we could have a chance to go to sectional if we all play and work as hard as I know we can.”
By Kevin Chlum
Last season, the St. Bede boys bas ketball team’s offense was centered around Paul Hart.
The all-stater led the area in scoring at 27 points per game and finished with 1,811 career points to break the school scoring record.
This season, the Bruins will look to score more “by committee.”
“We lost a lot of points from last year,” St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said, “but we have a lot of guys who can put it in the basket. It’s going to be one of those any-given-night things.
“One night a guy might chip in 15, and another night it will be somebody else chipping in. It’s really hard to pin point who that person will be.”
The Bruins return three players who started games last season — Callan Hueneburg, John Brady and Landon Jackson — along with three who saw significant time on the court in Bren dan Pillion, Connor Brown and Isaiah Hart, Paul’s younger brother.
Hanson said the Bruins are “going to try to play fast and try to get early offense,” while being fundamentally sound in half-court sets.
“We want to push and spread the ball,” Jackson said. “We’ll try to find a balance between playing fast but under control. We want to do more passing and less dribbling to try to cre ate more quality looks.”
Hanson said the Bruins will “be able to dig in a little bit more defen sively than we have in the past.”
“I think we’re going to do a com bination of things,” Hanson said. “We’ve been really trying to lock in right now with some man-to-man stuff. We have some quick guys out there. We’ll at times let those guys loose and let them try to cause havoc and really push the tempo and see if we can get some points from our de fense.
“It’s a group that’s fast, strong and
has kind of a bulldog mentality. I think that’s going to allow us to do some different things on that side of the ball.”
Jackson said the Bruins are a little undersized but will look to make up for it with fundamentals.
“We’ve been working on our com munication and defensive rotations,” Jackson said. “We’re just trying to keep our fundamentals and do the little things like playing help defense and boxing out.”
Hanson said that while the Bruins are smaller in size this season, they’re fast, have good athletes and play with a lot of enthusiasm.
He said the junior class in particu lar brings plenty of energy.
“We have about seven or eight ju niors who got a lot of playing time last year on their level,” Hanson said. “I’m looking forward to having those guys be good learners under our seniors. They really bring some enthusiasm. Sometimes I have to try to tone them down, because they get overly excited at times, but that’s a good thing. It’s easier to try to tone down and lock in than have to constantly try to light a fire under people.”
Hanson said he wants the Bruins to earn as many wins as possible, but he’s not solely focused on that. He expects the Three Rivers Confer ence East Division schedule to be ex tremely challenging.
“Everybody wants to cut nets and do all that stuff, but our biggest goal right now is I want our guys to be part of something bigger than themselves,” Hanson said. “I want it to be an ul tra-team atmosphere. I want to keep them growing as young men. I know that’s cliché.
“We want to pick up as many wins as we can along the way. Our confer ence is absolutely loaded. It’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to fight for everything we get, but we will fight.”
Stephanie Mickley has already made an impression on her players in her first season as the St. Bede girls basketball coach.
“She’s just been building the pro gram in such a positive and different way,” senior Ali Bosnich said. “She’s been positive toward the team, and the changes in the program have helped us build as athletes and basket ball players. It’s been really exciting having her here.”
Bosnich said she has enjoyed Mick ley’s approach to practice and the team’s morning workout sessions at X-ercise Science.
“It’s been good,” Mickley said about her transition to head coach. “I’m learning about the girls, and the girls are learning about the coaches. St. Bede has been helpful to me accli mating to their program.”
Mickley said the Bruins will play a high-pressure defense with some pressing and a mixture of zone and man-to-man.
“I think if we incorporate the pres sure defense we were working on this summer, it’s going to give our girls confidence to put the pressure on, break down the offense mentally and try to capitalize on those mistakes or turnovers to get some easy points,” Mickley said. “Hopefully, that is going to build the confidence of the team that they can score and hang with any team we play.”
Offensively, the Bruins will look to push the ball up the court quickly and score in transition. In the halfcourt offense, St. Bede will use a lot of movement.
Bosnich will be counted on to score in the paint along with Mack lin Brady. Ella Hermes and Kristal DeLaTorre will be among the team’s top perimeter scorers. Mickley said Jeanna Ladzinski and Abby Michels also “can put the ball up.”
“Because we are low on numbers, she has been able to incorporate all of our talents and use all of our abilities on both offense and defense,” Bos nich said. “She’s been changing things up from past seasons. Defensively, it’s not just based on zone or man-to-man. It’s an incorporation of both.
“For our offenses, it’s a lot of move ment and incorporates all our abili ties.”
The Bruins are low on numbers, but Bosnich said that has been a blessing of sorts as the team has a strong bond.
“We are able to know each other and be able to work with each other really well,” Bosnich said.
Mickley said that while small in numbers, the Bruins have a strong work ethic.
“They are very hard workers,” Mickley said. “They listen. They’re very disciplined. They’re eager to get better. Overall, they worked very hard in the summer to rebuild. I think their hard work is going to pay off.”
The Bruins are hoping their work pays off by finishing in the top three in the Three Rivers Conference East Division — after finishing second last season at 9-2 — improving on last year’s 14-17 record and advancing in the postseason.
“I’m going to have the girls write down some team and individual goals they want to reach,” Mickley said. “They’re a very goal-oriented team, so what they present is what we’re going to run off of.
“I want to get these girls believing they can get past the first game in the
postseason. It would be good to get to the regional final or beyond, but we’re going to have to take it one game at a time. My overall goal is for them
to improve every practice and every game so come postseason, they’re ready to go.”
Having graduated five senior start ers from last year’s 14-14 team, the Bureau Valley Storm boys basketball team will be starting all over this year.
Senior Cooper Balensiefen is the only returning player with playing time to speak of as the Storm open the new hoops campaign.
Bureau Valley fans will definitely need a roster when the Storm first take the floor for the Wally Keller Invitational Tournament at Wethers field on Monday, Nov. 21.
“Other than [Balensiefen], it will be all new faces for Bureau Valley fans this year,” 10th-year varsity coach Jason Marquis said. “It’s a group with a lot to prove. I think a bunch of peo ple will be thinking Bureau Valley will be young and down again. We have to make sure our effort is tremendous every night we’re on the floor.
“We’re going to have to improve where we are at the start in the Tur key Tournament through February if we expect to be competitive and win games, because we’re starting without varsity experience right now.”
Noticeably absent this year will be Carter Salisbury, who played at a high-energy level. A unanimous Three Rivers East All-Conference selection, the Storm point guard led BV offen sively (22 ppg, 3.6 assists) and defen sively (2.6 steals). He set the school’s single-game record with 45 points, finishing as the school’s No. 7 all-time scorer with 1,103 career points.
Marquis is hopeful Salisbury’s allout style lingers this year’s team.
“You don’t replace Sals. You just hope there’s kids that work as hard and have the will to win as much as he did,” Marquis said. “Nobody’s going to go out there with the explo siveness and intensity that he had. But you hope what he displays was what I would call ‘sticky,’ by that, mean ing the sophomores who sat behind the bench every night and watched his competitiveness and his desire to win, saw that and recognized how that made him special.”
With their lack of varsity experi ence, Marquis said, there’s bound to be a bit of a learning curve.
“That’s a good thing. That’s what I tell the kids. If you’re going to make
mistakes, you might as well learn from then,” he said. “Every aspect of life, whether it’s a test question or picking the right job, forgetting to tell your wife something important, it’s good to learn how to handle mistakes at a young age. We’re going to make mistakes just like any other human and any other team.”
Marquis said Salisbury’s point guard responsibilities will be split up between Balensiefen and sophomore Bryce Helms, the quarterback for the varsity football team. Junior Jon Dybek and sophomore Landon Huls ing will provide the Storm with some size and inside muscle and lead the
Storm in “creating an identity” for re bounding, Marquis said.
Senior Isaac Attig will be a captain, having missed a good portion of his junior year from injury, and step into a starting role. Marquis looks for ju nior Corbin Chhim and sophomore Elijah Endress to contribute as they transition their game from the sopho more level to the varsity.
Senior Brik Rediger will be one to help provide the vocal leadership Salisbury displayed during games and practices, Marquis said.
Rounding out the Storm squad are seniors Beau Spencer, Parker Stier, Carter Wagner and Sam Wright, and
juniors Eli Attig, Blake Erickson and Blake Helms.
“I think we’ve got some kids that basketball is their primary passion, and they’ve worked at it. Our kids are super coachable, which is good,” Marquis said.
Marquis said it will be neat for sophomore coach Bret Helms to “get to see his kids [Bryce and Blake] play in the program he helped build.”
The Storm will open at Wethers field at 5 p.m. Monday against An nawan, with games to follow against Elmwood, Wethersfield, Stark County and Putnam County in the roundrobin tournament.
By Kevin Hieronymus
Scoring was not a strength for the Bureau Valley girls basketball team last season, as the Storm struggled to put the ball in the basket on a consis tent basis.
The Storm averaged 29 ppg with a season-low of seven points, three games in the teens and seven games in the lows 20s.
With a cast of their top two return ing scorers and two girls from inju ries along with promising sophomore players who got a taste of varsity action last year, second-year Storm skipper Matt Wasielewski doesn’t see scoring to be a problem this year.
“I expect this team to be greatly improved. We struggled to score last year, but we are returning our best scorers and adding others who have shown the ability to get the ball in the hole,” Wasilewski said.
“Defensively, I think we will be quicker than the past. With added height and length, we should be able to defend inside better. We lost some tenacious competitors. However, we have added pieces we know will so lidify the team. We will need to push the ball and stay out of foul trouble.
“If we stay healthy, which was a big problem last year, we will be very competitive in the TRAC East.”
Juniors Kate Salisbury and Kate Stoller return to provide some much needed scoring punch. Salisbury was the leading scorer (8.2) and rebounder (4.4) for last year’s 8-20 (4-8 TRAC East) team that graduated six seniors. Stoller (6.7) was second in the team in scoring when she went down with an injury prior to Christmas.
Junior Lynzie Cady and sophomores Lesleigh Maynard and Taylor Neuhal fen played significant minutes for the varsity last year, and Wasilewski is looking for them to contribute signifi cantly. Scoring runs in the family for Neuhalfen, whose brother, Parker, is the BV boys all-time leading scorer.
“Lynzie and Taylor both have shown the ability to score at the frosh/soph and varsity level, and the staff is confident that they will be able to provide scoring for us this season,” Wasilewski said. ”Lesleigh saw her time at the varsity level increase as the season progressed because of her willingness to play defense. She has
worked hard in the offseason to im prove her shooting, and we are confi dent that she will help us on that end as well.”
The Storm also hope to get a big boost inside from 5-11 senior Alaina Wasilewski, who missed her entire junior year due to a ACL injury and will contribute to her dad’s team in many ways.
“Alaina was able to get back to health and contribute as a front-row player in volleyball. She will provide us some much needed size and length that we haven’t had in a few years,” the BV coach said. “As an underclass man, Alaina showed a good ability to pass the ball and facilitate the of fense.”
Senior Nikki Kerber returns at point guard, averaging 1.2 assists a game a year ago. Junior Ryley Egan, who had some minutes at the varsity
level, will contribute with her length and quickness offensively and defen sively, Coach Wasilewski said.
Senior newcomer Gabriella Heinze roth, “has been showing great enthusi asm and improving daily,” Wasilewski said.
The Storm will open the season
Monday, Nov. 14, in the Princeton Holiday Tournament at 6:30 p.m. vs. Stark County. BV will also face Henry in the “Gray” Pool at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 16, with the tournament to run through Saturday, Nov. 19.
The Hall boys basketball team re turns five players who started at times last season as well as multiple other players who saw significant time on the court.
Despite the returnees, the Red Dev ils will have a different look in terms of style in 2022-23.
“We’re a much different team than we were last year,” Hall coach Mike Filippini said. “Last year’s team was a good 3-point shooting team. I think this year’s team is much different as far as getting the ball up and down the court more. We don’t have the 3-point shooters we had last year. We have two or three kids who can shoot it, but not as well as last year.
“I don’t think we’ll score as much this year, but I think this year’s team will be much better defensively and a much better rebounding team.”
Coming off a record-setting football season, senior Mac Resetich will be the leader on the basketball court as well. He was sixth in the area in scor ing last year at 16.6 points per game and was fourth in rebounding at 8.5 per contest.
“Offensively, our team can move the ball well and find an open guy,” Resetich said.
Payton Dye, Dom Galetti, Hunter Meagher and Ashton Pecher all started some last season, while Max Bryant and Kyian Smith also gained experience.
“Ashton Pecher and Dom Galetti have grown a little bit. They’re not going to score 15-20 per game, but they’re really smart basketball players and know how to score and how to get the ball to people who can score. Max has grown 2-3 inches. Last year he was probably a little overmatched size-wise and strength-wise, but he had to play on the varsity because we just didn’t have the numbers. This year, it looks more natural to him. I think he’s going to have a really good year. Payton Dye is our best outside shooter. Hunter Meagher has really done a nice job in practice.”
Defensively, Filippini thinks the Red Devils will be improved due to increased strength. Hall doesn’t have much height, especially with 6-foot-4 Riley Coble out for the season with an injury, but do have a roster full of players in the 5-11 to 6-2 range.
“Last year, we were a little on the small side,” Filippini said. “We had a hard time matching up with teams when we played man. I think this year, our kids are a little bit bigger
and a little bit stronger. I think they’ll match up way better. That will help us with defense and rebounding. That’s what we really struggled with last year. We weren’t big enough to rebound, and we weren’t big enough to stop many teams.”
Filippini said he expects the Three Rivers Conference East Division race to be different, as teams like Newman, Kewanee, St. Bede and Bureau Valley graduated multiple starters and each team lost a 1,000-point scorer.
“It’s a totally new conference,” Filippini said. “I’ve been telling the kids, last year we played four teams that basically started five seniors and had 1,000-pointer scorers. All those kids are gone. Last year, we were in kind of a rebuilding mode when we lost Trez [Rybarczyk], who had been our four-year starter and had made so many plays for us.”
Filippini said he looks for the Red Devils to peak toward the end of the season.
“It’s a much different team,” Filip
pini said. “It was much different the first couple days of practice. You can see the difference in what we can play. We want to be playing our best and see what happens when regionals
come.”
Resetich said the Red Devils want to finish with a winning record and “an opportunity to end with a reward — regional, sectional, etc.”
Last season, the Hall girls basket ball team was inexperienced with only one senior on the roster.
The Red Devils return all five start ers and a handful of other players from last year’s team that went 12-17 overall and 7-5 in the Three Rivers Conference East Division.
“Last year we were really inex perienced. For a lot of them, it was their first full season of varsity basket ball, because the year before was the COVID year and we only played 10 or 11 games,” Hall coach T.J. Orlandi said. “We were really up and down last year. At times we played really well, and at other teams we struggled.
“I think having been through a full year now, I’m hoping that will help. Even over the summer, I thought we competed with a lot of teams a lot bet ter than we did the previous season.”
Hall’s returning starters are seniors Promise Giacometti, Jayden Jones and Toni Newton, junior McKenna Christiansen and sophomore Ken nedy Wozniak.
Junior Haylie Pellegrini and class mate Mya McLaughlin also will con tribute.
“It will be nice to have the same starters as last year,” Christiansen said. “I feel we were able to grow a lot together last year, and we can come back and do that again this year.”
Christiansen will lead the way of fensively after finishing third in the area in scoring last season at 15.2 points per game.
“We had McKenna who averaged over 15 points per game last year, but after that it was a little bit of a struggle of who was going to be that secondary and third scorer,” Orlandi said. “We’re looking to some of these girls, Promise and Toni especially as seniors, to step into those roles and provide that scoring we’re going to need. I think Kennedy has the ability to score more than she did last year. Jayden with her defense should be able to get transition baskets.
“The big question is, outside of McKenna, who is going to step into those scoring roles consistently?”
While there was some inconsis tency on offense last season, Orlandi felt the Red Devils were solid on de fense and expects the same this year.
Jones is a strong perimeter defender who is “lengthy and gets her hands on
a lot of passes,” while Giacometti is a “workhorse who hustles and is all over the place.” Christiansen aver aged 3.4 steals and 8.3 rebounds per game last season, while Giacometti grabbed 9.0 rebounds and blocked 1.8 shots per game.
Newton, who will be relied on to play good defense in the paint, blocked two shots per contest last year.
“Our girls as a unit play pretty well together defensively,” Orlandi said.
“It’s nice having Toni in the middle, because she has size and height. She can clog up the middle in the post and not give up a lot of baskets in
the paint. I think we’re quick on the outside, and we have some speed. Outside of Toni, our other four can in terchange in different spots and guard different people.
“I think it will help having that in side presence but also having speed around it to be active and hopefully cause some problems for the other team.”
With experience, more scoring op tions and a solid defense, the Red
Devils are hoping to improve on last season, compete for the conference title, play better in tournaments and earn a better postseason seed to give themselves a better chance in the re gional.
“Our goal is to win the conference and to win a regional,” Christiansen said. “As a team we have been putting in some heavy work to prepare for whatever comes our way this season to hopefully make that happen.”
By Charlie Ellerbrock
With the solid core of talented, ex perienced players the Putnam County boys basketball program has return ing this year, there’s little doubt there will be plenty of points scored each and every time the Panthers step on the court.
Whether the Panthers will have a higher number on their side of the scoreboard or not will depend on how much of last year’s success remains in their collective mind.
Coach Harold Fay’s squad entered the 2021-22 postseason with essen tially a .500 record, but by focusing more on the defensive end, it breezed past Gardner-South Wilmington, Dwight and Midland to capture the St. Bede Class 1A Regional champi onship, its first postseason title since the 2013-14 season, and lock up its first 20-win campaign since 2016.
Putnam County then topped Chi cago Fenger in the Class 1A Wood land Sectional before falling to eventual 1A state champ Yorkville Christian to finish with a 21-15 mark.
Lost to graduation are defensive stopper Drake Smith and guard, team leader and cheerleader Chad Olson. However, with the trio of Jackson McDonald, Austin Mattingly and An drew Pyszka leading several returnees on a more balanced roster on offense and defense, the Panthers will again be a threat for postseason hardware.
“We’re excited for our senior class,” said Fay, in his sixth year as PC coach and the reigning IBCA District 12 Coach of the Year. “They’ve had great careers here, and after that postsea son run last year, they’re anxious to get on the court and keep that going.”
The versatile 6-5 senior McDonald, who earned Tri-County and News Tri bune first-team honors after posting 16.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, two assists and a steal per game, should draw most of the opposition’s defensive attention. Mattingly, who last year scored 26 points in the regional title game win over Midland, and Pyszka are 6-1 seniors who can shoot the 3 or take the ball to the hoop.
Helping in the post will be 6-4 se
nior Wyatt Grimshaw, along with 6-4 senior Spencer Voss, 6-0 senior Lucas Weisbrock, 6-3 junior Orlando Harris and 6-2 junior Cole Vipond.
After McDonald, Mattingly, Pyszka and Grimshaw, the fifth starter spot is up for grabs — possibly 5-11 junior Owen Sarpharn, 5-11 senior Blake Billups or juniors 5-11 Gavin Cimei, 5-11 Bryce Smith, 5-6 Drew Taliani and 5-5 junior Blake Baker.
“There are a couple who we’re look ing to to step into that [stopper] role, who’s going to guard the best player
on the other team. That’s kind of a coin flip right now,” said Fay, whose club opens at the Elmwood/Wethers field Tournament on Nov. 21. “We have a lot of guys back, and having everybody familiar with what we do makes it easier to get that continuity going.”
Experience will give the Panthers a leg up in what could be a wide-open Tri-County Conference race.
“We have a lot of options in scor ing,” Fay said. “My goal is to have three guys averaging 12 points rather
than one averaging 20. … We hope to share the ball quite a bit and not have just an inside game or an out side game, and that’s exciting because with the people we have, that if some thing’s not working, [we can] find an other avenue.
“We just have to hope the other team doesn’t score more than us. That will be the key, if we decided to guard hard. … I think we will. They figured out at the end of last season that it comes down to who can lock down and execute.”
Just who are the Putnam County Panthers? Not even coach Jared Sale knows for sure.
Not just yet.
While some bad luck over the sum mer has left several question marks in his lineup, Sale feels that his club has the work ethic and talent to, at worst, be competitive every night, and at best, contend for the Tri-County Conference regular-season and tour nament titles.
The Panthers return their best player from a year ago, Ava Hatton, who was a unanimous first-team TriCounty Conference pick and News Tribune All-Area first-team choice as a sophomore after her 15.4 points a game accounting for 43.5% of all PC’s points. She also averaged 4.9 re bounds, 3.7 steals, 2.2 assists and 0.7 blocked shots for the 14-17 PC club.
But the loss to injury of junior Es meralda Avila, who would have been the No. 2 scorer behind her, has changed the expected roles for virtu ally everyone else on the squad. Avila tore an ACL during the last two min utes of the last summer league game and now is out for the season.
“We’re really excited to have Ava back,” said Sale, now in his eighth season on the PC bench. “She’s only a junior, so when we play conference teams, they’re always thinking, ‘Wow, she’s back again? Isn’t she a senior yet?’ That brings back a ton of our scoring, so that’s a great piece to build off of. But because she’s going to be at the top of everyone’s scouting report, we’re asking some other kids to take on some of that scoring when they focus on her.
“Es is a big loss for us. She was kind of the glue girl who gets dirty, plays her tail off. In the summer we’d bat tle, grind things out and find ways to get it done. Es was a big part of that, so her absence changes our identity a bit. … Fortunately, we have [play ers] who could slide into that role, but we’re not sure how all that’s going to go just yet.”
The most likely candidates to pro vide scoring will be 5-7 senior point guard Gracie Ciucci, who had sev eral double-digit games last year; 5-6 senior post Mikenna Boyd, who is undersized but handles chores in the paint; and 5-4 junior shooting guard Gabby Doyle, who started last season on the JV but by Christmas was the varsity’s first guard off the bench.
Vying for that reserve role will be 5-4 junior Sara Johnson and 5-5 junior
Salina Breckenridge, along with a trio of 5-6 sophomores — Eme Bouxsein, Kacie Coleman and Valeria Villago mez.
Also in the post mix with Boyd will be 5-9 junior, Emma Henderson, 5-11 sophomore Maggie Spratt and 5-11 ju nior Maggie Richetta, a star on the PC volleyball squad but back in hoops for the first time since sixth grade.
“This is one of the most enjoyable groups I’ve been around,” Sale said. “They work their tails off every day, and they’re a smart group. They un derstand what needs to be done … and if we can get a few girls to take on [Avila’s] role together, we can be a grind-it-out team like last year.
“Can we knock down shots con sistently? Can our posts contribute
at the offensive end? Can we consis tently get points from players other than Ava? That’s the big thing for us right now. If we can do that, I think
we grind it out on the defensive end enough to be a tough team to play against.”
Last season, the Mendota boys basketball team suffered through some health issues, contributing to the Tro jans winning just nine games.
But first-year coach Steve Wasmer, an assistant last season, felt the team was playing well by the end of the sea son.
“I don’t think many teams wanted to play us at the end of the season last year, and we want to build on that,” Wasmer said.
With four players back who started games last season along with a group of newcomers expected to contribute, Wasmer is looking for the Trojans to take a step forward.
“Our goal is to be above .500 and playing our best basketball at the end of the season,” Wasmer said. “When we get to that point, who knows? We always say, ‘Why not us?’
“It’s time to get Mendota basketball back on the map.”
Wasmer is very familiar with the Trojans, as he played for Mendota’s 1995-96 state team and served as an assistant last season.
“It’s been a fairly smooth transi tion,” Wasmer said. “Learning under coach [Steve] Hanson last year helped a lot, and having coach [Nick] Ganz as my assistant has been great, as this is his ninth year in the program. Being the head coach comes with a lot of things besides the X’s and O’s that you don’t really think about it. That stuff has been the most difficult for me.”
Wasmer takes over a roster that welcomes back Rafa Romero, Izaiah Nanez, Ryne Strouss and Isaac Guz man, who all started games last sea son.
The Trojans did lose NewsTribune Second-Team All-Area pick Krew Bond (15 points, 3 assists per game last season), as he transferred to Mar quette.
“[Romero] impacts the game in so many ways,” Wasmer said. “He’s a tremendous rebounder and tena cious defender. COVID hit him hard
last year, but a healthy Rafa will be a force. Izaiah Nanez, Ryne Strouss and Isaac Guzman all bring different attributes. Isaac and Izaiah are very clever, and both can really shoot the ball, and Strouss is all over the place and creates a lot of havoc on the de fensive end.”
Senior Dom Stamberger put in a lot of work in the offseason and is expected to contribute offensively. Ju nior Cale Strouss led the sophomore team in scoring last year and can shoot the 3-pointer well, while Jace Baird and Owen Aughenbaugh have
looked good in practice.
“I think we will be able to score,” Wasmer said. “We have a group of very good passers, which will get us some good looks. We just have to knock them down, and the shooting in practice so far has been encourag ing.
“Our personnel this year lends us to free-flowing, positionless basket ball on offense. We have a lot of guys who we feel can handle the ball and make shots. We would love to get up and down the floor, but we have to be smart about it and pick and choose
our spots.”
Defensively, the Trojans will play primarily man-to-man.
“At the end of the season last year we were tough to score against, as we were in the right spots and played with a lot of effort on that side of the floor,” Wasmer said. “That has to con tinue this year for us to be successful.
“We have some competitors. That’s any player’s No. 1 skill when it comes to playing defense. These guys take pride in the defensive end. That starts with Rafa.
“We will compete hard.”
By Kevin Chlum
After going 4-22 overall and 3-9 in the Three Rivers Conference East Division last winter, Men dota girls basketball coach John Hansen has a simple goal for the Trojans this season.
“We want to go into every game with the idea that we have the possibility of winning,” Hansen said. “We want to compete for the conference. I tell them every day there’s nobody in the conference we can’t beat and nobody in the conference who can’t beat us. We want to compete so there’s no body who’s circling us saying, ‘We got this one.’
“The goal this year is to be com petitive, and wins or being high up in the conference [standings] are just icing on the cake.”
The Trojans, who Hansen said
had improved numbers during offseason workouts, hope to be competitive with their athleticism, speed and size.
Offensively, Mendota will look to get the ball inside to Reanna Brant, a 6-foot senior who is a re turning starter, along with Naitzy Garcia, a 5-10 senior who started at times last season while also serving as the team’s sixth man.
The Trojans will work inside-out, hoping their strength inside will open the perimeter for shooters such as returning starter Katie Jenner.
Senior forward Grace Wasmer saw some action last season, se nior guard Gracie Zinke is ex pected to contribute, and Karly Reel is expected to play a key role after missing all of her freshman season and half of last season with an injury.
Brant averaged a team-best 9.6 points per game last season while grabbing an area-best 10.7 re bounds per contest. Jenner aver
aged 3.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 1 assist per game
“We’re fairly big this year,” Han
Mendota’s Katie Jenner (7) defends Newman’s Adalyn Waldschmidt during a game last season. Jenner is one of several players back for the Trojans who saw significant playing time last season. Continued on page 16
sen said. “We’re building around that. We’re setting our offense up around trying to get it inside with less dribbling and more trying to feed the post. We’ll do some high-low, then hopefully get some shots. We’re hoping to get some kickouts to [Jenner] and some pick and rolls with her.
“We’re definitely trying to take advantage of our size. If you have somebody with some size who can handle the ball [like Brant], that’s a pretty big deal.”
The Trojans also will try to “re ally push the ball in transition, run the floor this year and get out ahead of teams.”
Mendota hopes to do that by re bounding well and playing aggres sive defense.
“We want to take more chances this year,” Hansen said. “I feel like sometimes we lay back a little thinking because we’re in a zone, or we’re facing someone where we may be an underdog that we have to lay back and just react in stead of forcing them into some things. We want to use our ath leticism, speed and length to our advantage on the defensive end.
“We’re pushing this year to take some chances, jump some passes, try to pressure people and double down when we can. Not quite run and jump, but have that instinct where you can go double and try to get a steal and get out running. We have some size in the post, so hopefully we rebound and push the ball off that too.”
By Brian Hoxsey
For the first time since 1992 when Fieldcrest High School was first formed with the consolidation of Mi nonk-Dana-Rutland (M-D-R), Toluca, and Wenona school districts, the boys basketball team is under new leader ship.
Jeremy Hahn has taken over as skipper after five seasons as soph omore and assistant varsity coach under legendary hall of fame coach Matt Winkler, who retired following last season after leading the Knights to a 613-222 record with 14 regional titles.
“There is a lot of excitement for me taking over the program, but that is due to Matt, the influence and tra dition he had with Fieldcrest bas ketball,” Hahn said. “This is a great opportunity for me, and I’m honored to have it.
“While I look forward to continu ing on with a lot of things that Matt
liked to teach and I also believe in, like being responsible, being account able and working hard, I also want to leave my own mark, so to speak.
“We had some guys really start to stand out for us towards the end of last season. It was a tough year last year, without a doubt, but I think some of the guys really started to bond and play well together. We are still going to be a relatively young team, but my hope is the experience many of them got last year was a stepping stone into this year.”
Last season the Knights finished 6-17 overall and 3-7 in the Heart of Illinois Conference, falling to Seneca by eight points in the opening round of the Class 2A Wilmington Regional.
Hahn said he feels senior forward Landon Modro, who led the team in points (11.4) and rebounds (7.2), as well as junior forward Brady Ruest man and sophomore guard Ed Lorton
(9.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.6 apg) will be key players on this year’s squad.
“Landon is a sturdy-built kid who can play both inside and out, but we will rely on him a lot in the paint,” Hahn said. “He finishes at the rim very well, but he also started to show he can expand his game to the 3-point line, which expands his game a little bit.
“Ed doesn’t have his driver’s license yet, but I feel like he is going to be a very good player for just a sophomore. He’s a very athletic player who just has a knack for the game. He started every game for us as a freshman, so he kind of was thrown in the fire and had a bigger role than most freshman have on a varsity team.
“Brad is a kid that has grown up being a point guard, but he’s had a growth spurt and is now 6-foot-4. That’s not to say he can’t still run the point for us, but he now brings a unique skill set with his size now as a small-school player. He’s a very gifted player that’s starting to put it all to gether.”
Hahn says that junior twins Dal las and Nathan Cook are both good shooters and defenders. Sophomore Jordan Heider started at point guard at the beginning of last year, then had to miss much of the season with an injury.
“I like the up-tempo type of game, and I like to push the ball up the floor,” Hahn said. “On the other end, I want the in-your-face kind of defense. I’m a big believer in defense wins, and we’ve been working really hard on that end of the floor the first week of practice.
“To be honest, a lot of things Coach Winkler stressed here, they aren’t changing. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Rounding out the roster for Field crest will be seniors Aiden Harsted (C) and Parker Sidebottom (G), ju niors Koltin Kearfott (F), Jozia John son (G), Connor Reichman (F), Noah Skaggs (F), and sophomore Jackson Hakes.
Fieldcrest opens with HOIC games after Thanksgiving — a trip to Lex ington on Nov. 29, before hosting Tri-Valley on Dec. 2.
The Fieldcrest girls basketball team is coming off a historic season that produced championships at the cam paign-opening Integrated Seed Solu tions Tournament and the St. Bede Lady Bruins Christmas Classic, as well as Heart of Illinois Conference regular-season and tournament titles.
But the ultimate accomplishment of the 34-4 Knights squad was a fourthplace finish at the Class 2A State tour nament.
Fieldcrest eighth-year coach Mitch Neally said he has borrowed a motto for this season from Jay Wright, a for mer men’s basketball coach at Villa nova University — “stay humble, stay hungry.”
“When I first took over this pro gram, our goal was to win a regional, and we’ve now won three straight,” Neally said. “Now the talk is to get back to state finals. But to be honest, those expectations are talked about outside of the program. As a coach, we are just going to keep doing what we have been and continue to strive to be the best we can be on and off the court each and every day. If we can do that, the rest will take care of itself other than having to have things go your way and have things click at the right times. That’s why last year’s team was successful, in my opinion.
“We haven’t even talked about going back to state; it’s not a specific goal. The goal is to take everything day by day. This is a new team, but we also don’t want to forget what made us a good team last year that had fight and toughness.”
The Knights lost starter Ella Go odrich to graduation, but return main stays in seniors Ashlyn May (12.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.0 apg, 3.6 spg, Heart of Illinois Conference first-team selec tion, second-team pick for the AP and IBCA all-state teams, Carolyn Megow (8.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 3.0 spg), and Haley Carver (9.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.4 spg, HOIC second team), as well as junior Kaitlyn White (12.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2.8 spg) HOIC honorable mention).
“Ella is going to be a hard player to replace, she was such a versatile, over all solid player,” Neally said. “But not much will change with how we play the game. We preach and work on fundamentals first and foremost. We want to be a team that works together and plays solid defense. We want to master the boring, meaning we want to do all the little things better than our opponents.
“I feel the more a team can be fun damentally sound and disciplined, the better chance it has to be ahead on the scoreboard when the final horn sounds. We don’t get to start with more points every game because we have four starters back. We are going to get everyone’s best shot, and that is a great challenge to be a part of.
“We are going to work even harder this season, and I feel we will do that.”
Neally said every player on the squad has improved from a season ago and that he is happy with the depth he’ll have off the bench.
He will be looking for contributions from seniors Abby Harms and Cami Mangan, juniors Riley Burton (re turning after ACL injury), Aliah Celis, Ava Marty and Vada Timmerman, sophomore Emily Tooley and talented freshmen Macy Gochanour and Pru Mangan.
“Aliah, Cami and Vada were key players off the bench for us last year,” Neally said. “Every girl on this team — from the starters to the role players — is committed to work on improv ing their game. When you have that throughout a program, it makes every one better. They all are here for each other.
“I’m excited to see what this team can do.”
The Knights will open up at in Fla nagan with the Falcons-Irish dual-site tournament playing the host Falcons, Marquette Academy and Dwight in pool play with a placement game on Saturday against a respective team from the Seneca side.
The excitement and buzz from the football field at Princeton High prom ises to spill over onto the hardwood for the upcoming hoops season.
The Tigers return three key play ers from last year’s regional basket ball championship — seniors Grady Thompson, Teegan Davis and Kolten Monroe — to mix with a strong sup porting cast of returning players and new talent to make another run in the postseason.
Davis and Thompson, both guards, carry all-state labels with them to the floor. Both were Three Rivers East First Team All-Conference.
Davis is an above-the-rim player, who averaged 15.9 points and led the Tigers in rebounding (7.8), assists (3.0) and steals (2.2).
Thompson had a breakout junior year, pouring in a team-high 19.8 ppg.
Smith said the Tigers are blessed to have a pair of kids so talented that are “better kids than they are basketball players.”
“That’s what makes them so spe cial. They’re great teammates.”
Monroe, a 6-6 forward, is a high light reel ready to happen with his high-soaring dunks, averaged 9.6, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals. Smith said he ready to step out of the shadow of his brother, Kaden, who graduated last year, and shine even more.
“Obviously, Thompson, Davis and Monroe will get all the hype, and deservedly so, but I really like these young bucks that we have to go with them,” Smith said.
Seniors Christian Rosario and Brady Byers will fill bigger roles this years, while juniors Tyson Phillips, Jimmy Starkey, Landen Koning, Daniel Sousa and Bennett Williams and sophomore Noah LaPorte show promise to contribute.
The Tigers will also have junior Korte Lawson, who becomes eligible Dec. 9 following his transfer from Rockridge a year ago, expected to take over at point guard. He practiced with the team last year.
“I believe Korte will be a great ad dition at point guard. He has worked hard on his game the last few months, and it shows. His teammates have embraced him,” Smith said. “He’s ex tremely court smart.”
Rounding out the 14-man roster are returning senior Karter Patterson and junior Cayden Hansen.
“I think our depth will prepare us more than anything for games with the battles we’ll have here in the gym,” Smith said.
The Tigers coach said the sky’s the limit for this year’s team.
“It’s exciting times for us. The kids know the expectations are high. We had a great summer, thought the kids jelled really well together. Played some really good competition to help us get a really good run this year,” Smith said.
“When we talked about goals, there was no talk about regionals and
conference. They were talking about state. To achieve that goal, there’s going to have to be a lot of hard work. There’s going to be some growing pains. There’s going to be some ups and downs and valleys, and it’s how we bound together and get through those things to get us going in the right direction.
“Who knows? If we play like we’re capable of playing, I like our chances. I think they’re obtainable goals.”
Smith embraced the Tigers’ football success and told head coach Ryan Pearson he’d hoped the four football
players didn’t report to basketball until after Thanksgiving.
“I think it’s a good thing where they’re at [making a deep playoff run]. It’s exciting times here at Princeton High School, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” he said.
The Tigers will open the season Monday, Nov. 21, at in the Dean Riley Shootin’ the Rock Thanksgiving Tournament at Ottawa, having played most recently at the Geneseo Thanks giving Tournament.
The Princeton basketball team had a breakout season a year ago.
It won the first conference champi onship in school history, going 11-1 in the Three Rivers East.
It won all of its home games during the regular season.
It finished the regular season with a brilliant 19-2 record in a season inter rupted by COVID-19 pauses.
But it has a little unfinished busi ness.
The Tigresses dropped their first game of the postseason in their own regional and would like to add “num bers” on the wall this year.
“I asked our girls in our preseason meeting just different team goals they had, and every single one wrote down regional championship. It’s been men tioned already, more numbers have to go on the board, and I don’t think the seniors will take anything less than that,” second-year coach Darcy Kepner said.
“The potential is surely there. Our seniors bring back a lot of talent and experience to the core. You can just tell they’re hungry and want another conference championship and even more with that regional. I think we can make a deep run with this group.”
There are five returning seniors who have been a part of two confer ence championships at the underclass level and last year’s title at the varsity level.
Olivia Gartin, a first-team all-con ference pick, led the last year’s team in rebounding (7.3) and steals (4.3) while averaging 10.3 points and 2.1 assists. She will be looked upon for more scoring this year with the gradu ation of BCR Player of the Year McK enzie Hecht (11.2 ppg).
Senior point guard Mariah Hob son, who received honorable mention all-conference honors, dished out 2.4 assists a game to go along with 3.3 steals, 5.7 points and 3.5 rebounds.
Joining them for an encore perfor mance are classmates Erin May, Gen Tirao and Isa Ibarra, who Kepner said has recovered from her season-ending ACL injury in January “better than I could have ever expected she would. I think she’s stronger than before he injury and ready to go.”
Kepner said it’s the seniors time to shine.
Junior Miyah Fox also brings back varsity experience, looking to step into a bigger role this season.
“Miyah has a motor that doesn’t stop, and she’s wiling to do all the dirty work and play defense and get rebounds. She’s a kid that doesn’t care if she’s starting or coming off the bench or scoring 20 points or one. She just wants to win,” Kepner said.
The Tigresses’ coach is excited with the underclass talent she is pulling up to the varsity — sophomore Ol ivia Mattingly and freshmen Keighley Davis and Camryn Davis, who took part in back-to-back undefeated con ference championships at Logan Ju nior High.
“We have some young blood that are going to come up and fill some roles that we didn’t necessarily have
last year and give us minutes where we need it,” Kepner said. “Camryn will handle the ball a lot for us this year. The talent she has as a shooter is so impressive, and she puts in the work; Keighley the same thing un derneath. She’s going to get a lot of boards, and she runs the floor incred ibly hard.
“They’re going to get a lot of min utes. Whether it’s starting or coming off the bench, I think they’re fine with either. They’re going to fill a big role for us.”
Rounding out the squad are juniors Savannah Hollars, Abby Ward and Olivia Giaquinto — who has recov ered from a hip injury that has side
lined her the past year.
Kepner said the Tigresses should be well-balanced when it comes to scor ing.
“Hecht’s going to be hard to re place, but I think Olivia Gartin is going to pick up a lot of that; really anybody, we have on the floor,” she said. “All the seniors can score when we need them to. Miyah Fox is going to give us good minutes and can score as well. I feel like we have plenty of options every night.”
The Tigresses will open the season in their own Holiday Tournament which runs from Nov. 14-19.
By Brian Hoxsey
The old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same” could easily describe the Seneca boys basketball team as it readies to begin the 2022-23 season.
The Fighting Irish finished last sea son 23-9 overall — falling to then No. 3 state-ranked El Paso-Gridley in the Class 2A Wilmington Regional title game — while also ending 6-2 in TriCounty Conference action, finishing second in both the regular-season standings and the league’s tourna ment.
Coach Russ Witte, who begins his 14th season leading the Kelly Green and White, feels like followers of his squad will get much of the same qual ity and pace of basketball they are ac customed to seeing in recent seasons past.
“I feel we have players that can get out and go, and that want to get out and go,” Witte said. “We lost 23 points per game and two really good shooters in Noah Quigley and Zach Peifer to graduation, so we are going to have to figure out a way to replace that. We were able to really stretch the floor against teams last year. Now, we still have guys who can shoot it, but it comes down to if we can shoot it at a decent clip or not consistently.
“As far as defense, we are still going to be Seneca as far as trying to use our defense to create offense. If we can play solid defense, force turn overs and get deflections, we’re going to get it and run.”
Witte returns three regular starters and a pair of spot starters form a sea son ago.
Junior forwards Lane Provance (6-6) and Kysen Klinker (6-4), as well as sophomore point guard Paxton Gi ertz (6-0), are expected to be counted on for a lot this year. Senior guards Calvin Maierhofer and Braden Ellis (when he returns from a knee injury suffered in football), as well as junior forward Josh Lucas, sophomore for ward John Farcus and potentially freshman guard Brady Sheedy also figure to be key contributors.
Giertz scored 11.4 points per game, Provance 6.4 (6.7 rpg) and Klinker 3.9 (4.9 rpg).
“Last year Paxton set the school record for assists in a season, which when you think back at some of the players that have played here like Garrett Callahan and Seth Evans, that’s a pretty amazing mark he sur passed, and throw in on top of that Paxton was just a freshman. That being said, Paxton is going to have to take on more of a scoring role this year for us.
“Lane is going to be the X-factor for us. He’s going to play some at guard as well as in the post, and I feel will
be a matchup nightmare for teams if he can get both parts of that game fig ured out.
“We’ll also be looking for another solid year from Kysen. While Calvin was our sixth-man last year, he was that glue kid that is going to work his butt off and give you everything he’s got each and every time out. But we are going to ask him to step up even more this year.”
Rounding out the roster for the Irish will be seniors Dalton Degrush (G) and Dominic Traina (F), juniors Kenny Daggett (G) and Sam Kleich (F), sophomore Grant Siegel, and freshman Cameron Shirley.
“Like any season, if you win a Thanksgiving tournament, that’s great. If you win a Christmas tour nament, that’s fantastic. If you win a conference tournament or reg ular-season championship, that’s super. But for us, we want to be back in a game like we were with El Pa so-Gridley, a regional championship game, and have a shot of grabbing some hardware to hang on the wall,” Witte said.
“I think we should be an exciting team to watch play the game of bas ketball.”
Seneca opens at its own Turkey Tournament on Tuesday against So monauk in a rematch of last year’s title game — one won by the Irish in the final seconds.
By Brian Hoxsey
There are a number of teams around the area that force opposing coaches to use extra practice time devoted to finding a way to deal with the extended defense pressure they are going to face.
The Seneca girls basketball team has been and will again this season be one of those squads.
Under second-year coach Brian Hol man, the Fighting Irish finished last sea son 22-12 overall and won the Tri-County Conference regular season with a 10-2 mark. Seneca reached a Class 2A regional championship game, but fell to Fieldcrest, which eventually finished fourth in the state finals.
Seneca’s roster will feature seven se niors, three juniors and six sophomores. The Irish lost seven players to graduation, including TCC second-team selection Emma Smith, who averaged 6.8 points and 8.0 rebounds.
“We have a relatively young group this season, but many of them were able to get varsity experience last season,” Holman said. “I feel like we have a lot of quickness again throughout the roster, which we hope to use to our advantage. We changed up alignment-wise our full-court defense last season, and the girls, I thought, did a good job of adjusting to that.
“One thing I’m hoping to see is us improve in our half-court defense, and I think we have the talent to reach that goal.”
The Irish return one of the area’s top returning players, senior guard Kennedy Hartwig. As a junior, the sharpshoot ing Hartwig averaged 15.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 2.8 assists and earned a unanimous Tri-County All-Con ference first-team spot, as well as Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class 2A Special Mention honors.
“Kennedy is one of those special play ers,” Holman said. “She is a tireless worker and always trying to make herself into a better player. I know she put in a lot of time in the offseason, and I’m excited to see what she can do on the floor this year.
“I think I take it for granted at times that she is going to consistently give us 15-20 points a night, but that’s the type of player see is. She also does an excellent job of getting others involved on the offen sive end, and we’ll need that to continue
for us to have success.
championship, but it will be a matter of
“One key for us will be for one or two other players to step up into those second ary scoring roles. If we can get that to hap pen, it will be harder for our opponents to just key on Kennedy. Another key, like it is in every season for every team, will be playing four solid quarters on the defen sive end each time out.”
The Irish will also expect contributions from seniors Caitlyn O’Boyle (F), Neely Hougas (F), Cassia Buchanan (G), Jessica
Baudino (G); juniors Jolena Odum (G/F), Faith Baker (C) and Lauren Cronkrite (G); and sophomores Alyssa Zellers (G), Lainie Olson (G/F), Evelyn O’Connor (G), Ella Sterling (F/C), Clara Bruno (F) and Audry McNabb (F/C).
“I’m really looking forward to what this team can accomplish this year,” Holman said. “I feel like we have all the pieces to the puzzle as far as the potential to com pete again for a conference and regional
how all those pieces fall into place as the season moves along.”
Seneca will open the season hosting one portion of the Irish-Falcon Thanks giving Tournament and play Herscher on Monday, Hall on Tuesday and Serena on Thursday in pool play, then an opponent from the Flanagan-Cornell pool on Satur day.
Last winter, the Streator Bull dogs were led by a triumvirate — Jack Haynes, The Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year; Times All-Area honorable men tionee and sharpshooter Jack Starkey; and Times Second Team selection and sophomore point guard Christian Benning.
With Starkey, Haynes and nine additional seniors from last sea son’s 21-9, Illinois Central Eight Conference champion team gone to Pomp and Circumstance, there’s an expectation last year’s three-man production will become a one-man show starring the phys ical, battle-tested-beyond-his-years Benning.
“I think that’s going to be the perception outside,” Bulldogs coach Beau Doty (14 seasons, 197-159) said. “I don’t necessarily think we’re viewing it like that at all.
“This is a group Christian grew up playing with, has a lot of conti nuity with and a lot of experience with. It’s a group we’ve looked at for a long time, this junior group specifically, and we’ve had some very pleasant developments in the sophomore group behind them.
“We’re super excited about this year and what we can be as a cohe sive unit. Christian has earned the recognition from his play last year as an all-conference performer and a key member of our 21-win and conference champion team. But we feel really strongly about the commitment level of this group ... and we’re starting to build that co hesiveness.”
Doty knows, however, that all eyes to begin the year will be on his junior point guard ... and with good reason. Benning put up 15.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.3 steals as a sophomore, making 42.6% of his shots from the field. Doty fully expects him to be “the focal point” of this winter’s Streator team.
But as Doty said, even though Benning is the only returner with meaningful varsity experience and the roster contains only two
seniors — forward Austin Taylor (all four years in the program) and guard Adam Williamson (return ing to basketball) — the plan isn’t to put everything on his shoulders.
Benning’s fellow juniors bring strong numbers and intriguing tal ent. Expect posts Larry Finney (66), Quinn Baker (6-6) and Landon Muntz (6-3) to make heavy contri butions in the paint, while outside leading juniors include Jaydon Nambo, Cade Peterson and Logan Aukland. Cole Park, Alex Kostal and Zander McCloskey are other 11th-grade guards competing for time in that main rotation.
They and the rest of the juniors are being pushed by a trio of soph omore call-ups who have earned varsity jerseys — post player Nolan Lukach (6-3) and guards Matt Wil liamson and Isaiah Weibel.
“I feel like this is a much differ ent team than last year in a lot of ways,” Doty said. “We have depth of scoring this year. We’ll have guys who come off the bench who can make an impact. We’re trying to figure out who those guys are right now.
“Starting roles and things are up for grabs right now, and the guys know that. This could be a group where that’s in flux throughout the year. I feel like we have a solid eight, nine guys, and the others are right there pushing at the door to get into that group.”
While having just two seniors is not ideal, it does allow the Bull dogs to view the development of their largely unproven junior and sophomore classes as not just a one-season project while still hav ing the talent to compete for their
share of wins in the present.
“We’re looking at this as, yeah, we lost a lot, but we feel really confident about the abilities of our guys,” Doty said. “It’s really just a matter of staying the course when things get tough; accepting the challenges, accepting the bumps in the road and the failures; and viewing it as a long-term project to get better and compete at the right times. ...
“I’m very excited about what we could be.”
Streator is slated to open the season in Ottawa’s week-long Dean Riley “Shootin’ the Rock” tournament again this Thanks giving week, opening Monday at 8 p.m. against expected Class 2A powerhouse Princeton.
A handful of times over the past two decades and change, the Streator girls basketball program has been able to build up to being a consistently com petitive — and in 2020-21 for the first and only time in over three decades, a winning — team.
Those seasons have been few and far between, unfortunately, but new head coach Jacob Durdan is hope ful this 2022-23 campaign and the coming of a new culture around the program can be the beginning of a different, more successful era for Bull dogs girls basketball after last winter’s 3-24 campaign.
“We expect the girls to come in every day with a positive attitude, ready to push themselves and their teammates, and to trust the process,” said Durdan, a 2016 Woodland grad uate who for the past two seasons
served as an assistant in the East Dubuque girls basketball program and replaces four-year head coach Beau Albert, whose 7-5 record in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season was the Bulldogs’ only winning re cord in recent memory.
Four seniors and a junior with siz able varsity experience will lead the way this season after the graduation of Anna Hoffmeyer, who led last winter’s team on her way to earning Times All-Area Team honorable men tion. Senior guards Ellie Isermann and Cailey Gwaltney, senior wing Charlee Bourell, senior forward Ma rissa Vickers and junior guard Rilee Talty all return.
They are joined by a roster that in cludes players Durdan designates as key newcomers, such as senior guard Monseratt Gonzalez, forward Jade Williams and guards Kora Lane and Kiley Rhodes — the last three juniors.
What Durdan expects from that group is a true team effort, both on the court and in the scorebook.
“Our approach will be to have a multi-headed attack,” he said. “I want to have three or so players who can score 10 or so points, while everyone on the team chips in as well. On any given night, we could have a different leading scorer. ...
“We expect the girls to come in every day with a positive attitude, ready to push themselves and their teammates, and to trust the process. [Our goals are to] become better people off the court; become better players on the court; understand the power of a team effort.”
Durdan cites his team’s speed and versatility as strengths of this Bulldogs team.
“We have a quick group of girls who are ready to push the action ...” he said. “We can put players in multi
ple positions and still be successful.”
A defense-first mindset is another point of emphasis for Durdan, who will be assisted this season by Melissa Zavada and Eric Gwaltney.
The Bulldogs open the 2022-23 season in the expanded Princeton Holiday Tournament, opening Tues day with a tough test against the host Tigresses. After the completion of that tournament, highlights on the Streator schedule include: a Nov. 28 home opener at Pops Dale Gymna sium against Lisle, also the Bulldogs’ Illinois Central Eight Conference opener; the annual mid-December trip up Route 23 for the Ottawa Hol iday Tournament; another visit to Kingman to play Ottawa on Feb. 1; and the home finale Feb. 6 against Reed-Custer.
Low numbers this season will force the Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland girls basketball co-op to play its varsity games at 5:30 p.m., with reduced-min ute junior-varsity games following the varsity contests.
While that’s not exactly good news, the fact that the returning players making up those lower roster num bers for FCW are awfully good ones is an encouraging sign for the Falcons.
Three-year starting point guard Raegan Montello returns for her se nior season, and sophomore wing Ella Derossett is back after a freshman season that saw her adapt incredibly well to the varsity game en route to a double-digit scoring average and hon orable mention honors from both the powerhouse Heart of Illinois Confer ence and The Times All-Area Team.
Senior varsity newcomer Kayli Brooke, sophomores Tiffany Ruest man and Amelia Ulrich, and fresh men Makayla Chapman, Kora Edens, Emme Wallace and Kaylee Delheimer round out the varsity roster and the program’s numbers.
“I have seen our two seniors step up already with leading this team, both on and off the court,” FCW fourth-sea son head coach Danielle Edens said. “I know we will see returning starters Raegan Montello and Ella Derossett step up this season, but already have seen some of our freshmen step in to some important roles on this team. ...
“These underclassmen have an op
portunity to make a difference in this program and to step into some big shoes. I am looking forward to see how this pans out this season.”
Seven of the players on the nine-girl varsity roster are also on the JV roster — hence the decision to play varsity contests first, so the players putting in doubleheaders will be fresher for the games that count most.
Last winter’s FCW team finished 3-27 overall and 1-11 in the Heart of Illinois Conference.
While Edens admits the program’s low numbers will likely make it “an other growing season for us,” she also sees a lot to like in this year’s crop of Falcons, citing “court awareness, determination, a desire to improve, mental toughness, coachability and passion” as strengths of this year’s team.
She also likes Flanagan-Cornell/ Woodland’s roster versatility and what that could mean for how the Falcons choose to compete on any given night.
“With this group of girls, I see us going from up-tempo to a half-court game, depending on our opponents,” she said. “We can do both, so will hopefully have some teams guessing.”
The Falcons open the season at home in Flanagan, hosting the Inte grated Seeds-sponsored portion of the dual-site Falcon-Irish Thanksgiv ing Tournament in a pool also featur ing Marquette, Dwight and Class 2A fourth-place finisher Fieldcrest. Flana gan-Cornell/Woodland is in two addi
tional tournaments before the IHSA postseason — taking part in Earlville’s Christmas tourney just after the hol iday and the McLean County/Heart of Illinois Conference Tournament in mid-January.
Four of FCW’s scheduled home games — the first Nov. 28 against Calvary Christian — are slated to be played at Woodland, with the remain
der at Flanagan-Cornell High School. Asked for her goals for the team, Edens said, “To keep fighting every game and never quit, to grow as coaches, individual players and as a team and to improve our record from last season both overall and in the conference.”
Anyone who knows Connor Ka minke’s history and philosophy on the game he loves understands the former Woodland star and current Warriors head coach is a big believer in fostering a basketball culture.
Talking about the environment his Warriors have built heading into this 2022-23 season, Kaminke is all smiles.
“This is just a whole other dynamic with these kids,” he said. “They’re so unselfish, and they truly care about each other. They don’t really care who gets the credit or who makes the shot as long as the job gets done.
“They want to win, and they’re will ing to do what it takes to win.”
A quartet of Warriors return from last winter’s varsity team that strug gled to a 5-23 record (0-8 in the TriCounty Conference), and each is expected to take on a larger role.
The first is the lone senior, point guard Carter Ewing (4.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists per game), who will see time off the ball as well with
additional ball-handling options on the roster. Junior shooting guard Jon Moore (3.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.9 assists) has grown into a muchneeded leadership role both on and off the court after being the straw that stirs the drink for last year’s JV team.
Sophomore point man Connor Dodge (5.1 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists) is the top returning scorer, and 10thgrade small forward Nick Plesko (1.6 points, 1.0 rebounds, 0.3 assists) saw limited action over 18 varsity games a season ago.
“We lost five seniors,” said Ka minke, now in his sixth season, “so we lost a big core of our experience, but we’re in a unique situation where we lose five seniors but still return a heck of a lot of talent. We’re bringing back Jon Moore and Connor Dodge and Carter Ewing, three guys that played pretty substantial minutes for us, but also a 16-8 JV team that had a lot of success, played really well to gether and had some exciting games.”
Three-headed junior post presence
Braden Follmer, Kenny Eutsey and Isaac Folmer as well as guard Tucker Hill — a dangerous sharpshooter — are also returning after receiving scattered varsity minutes last season.
Newcomers to the Warriors varsity include junior forwards Logan Stein quist, sophomore forwards Zandar Radke and Quentin Porter, sopho more guard Connor Decker and fresh man guard Noah Decker.
Kaminke believes Warriors fans
will see a more up-tempo brand of basketball than in recent years.
“I know it’s kind of a buzzword right now, but we are at our best when we play at a faster pace,” Kaminke said. “This is a group that wants to get up and wants to go. So conditioning is going to be huge for us. Anybody can want to play fast, but you have to be in elite physical shape to play fast.
“We’re going to play somewhat positionless basketball ... and we’re going to have multiple shooters on the floor — three to four to five shoot
ers on the floor — every second of the game. We want to get it out and go, and defensively we also want to play a little bit more of an up-tempo style. ...
“This is a competitive group that likes to play through energy and likes to play through each other. It’s not forced. It’s natural.”
Woodland will again open its sea son hosting a pool of the Route 17 Classic, opening up Monday at 8 p.m. against former and future conference foe St. Bede in a field that also in cludes Ridgeview (who the Warriors
play Tuesday) and Flanagan-Cornell (on Wednesday). The place games will be contested Saturday in Dwight before the regular season proper be gins.
Kaminke, for one, is unmistakably excited for it.
“I think we have the ability to get hot this year and sneak up on some teams,” he said. “It’s going to be a fun season.”
Historically, Marquette coach Todd Hopkins has been famously — or per haps infamously — closed-mouthed about his expectations for his teams, regardless of the sport.
This year, his silence about his eighth boys basketball squad follows that rule, but for good reason.
He knows he has talented, experi enced athletes, but exactly how those aspects will come together on the court is his and anybody else’s guess.
Graduation cost the Crusaders their two strongest inside players, 6-2 twins Brady and Beau Ewers, and their combined 16 points and 14 rebounds.
But returning from the 20-11 team that lost the Serena Regional cham pionship game to eventual 1A state champion Yorkville Christian are a few tall, athletic posts and a passel of quick, speedy guards, plus one new addition.
Joining returning starters Tommy Durdan, Logan Nelson, Alex Graham, Griffin Walker and several others will be Krew Bond, a transfer from Men dota where he started in basketball the last two seasons and was the Tro jans’ leading scorer as a junior.
“Right now we have three guys [Durdan, Graham, Bond] who are used to playing with the ball in their hands all the time,” Hopkins said, “so it’s going to take a little time for them to get used to how to play when they’re not at point guard, when they don’t have the ball. That’s something that, knowing those three kids, I think they’ll be able to handle well.
“We have some size underneath, some kids 6-3, 6-4, maybe three or four of them, and some pretty athletic guards. We just have to figure out how to use everybody, because I feel we have 10 to 12 guys who can play and contribute. We may see a lot of different guys sub in during the first three quarter, and then in the fourth, we’ll go with who’s hot.
“Where the points are going to come from, I have no idea. We have guys that can shoot it, that can take the ball to the basket and that can be strong inside, but which one will start
strong right away, we’ll see.”
Durdan was a TCC second team and Times honorable mention pick after averaging a team-best 13.2 points with 3.3 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 steals. Nelson accounted for 8.6 points and 1.1 steals. Walker chipped in 6.1 points, Graham 4.9 points, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals and Carson Zellers 4.0 points for the Cru. Pete McGrath and Denver Trainer, the JV’s top scorer last year at 13.1 points a game, are also candidates for the rotation.
Bond, a three-sport standout with the Trojans, averaged 18 points during
one stretch last season.
Hopkins may choose to use any combination of those guards with or without the Crusaders’ two confirmed bigs, 6-4 Kaden Eller and 6-5 Charlie Mullen. Rebounding well with a fourguard lineup is a must.
“Hopefully we’ll play like we did the last month or so of the season, uptempo with probably more four-guard looks than we have in the past,” Hop kins said. “Not to say we won’t play two or three bigs. It depends on who we’re playing and what the game dic tates. We’ll see.
“First we have to get our legs under
us. It’s going to be a struggle the first month. It always is, and that’s a good thing. I’ll take that every year, our football team going as far as they can and us getting off to a bit of a late start. …
“In basketball, they don’t put up banners for winning games in Novem ber and December. It’s what you do in February and March that counts.”
The Crusaders open the season with consecutive Tuesday road games — at DePue on Nov. 22 and at St. Bede on Nov. 29 — before the Dec. 2 home opener at Bader Gym against Ashton-Franklin Center.
By Charlie Ellerbrock
There is a tough task awaiting the Marquette girls basketball team this winter, defending their Tri-County Conference tournament champion ship without not only its own best player, but the best player in the en tire league.
Gone from last season’s 21-10, re gional-finalist club is Josie Eager, the TCC Player of the Year and Times first-team selection after averaging 11.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.2 steal per contest as the team’s point guard for the fourth year in a row. Also graduated is Izzy Garkey, the Crusaders’ defensive stopper and a TCC honorable mentionee.
While coach Eric Price’s squad is not devoid of standouts, finding a player to take over as the main ball-handler is now the squad’s over riding priority to compete in a now wide-open league.
“We’ll miss Josie, who had the ball in her hands 60-65% of the time,” said Price, starting his third season at the Marquette helm. “That’s tough to replace, so a lot of that ball-handling responsibility is gonna be thrown on the younger girls early. It may be we don’t have a traditional point guard. It could be by committee or have someone who hasn’t been a point guard before step in there, and that’s fine. A lot of teams play zone, so point guard doesn’t see the same pressure as when there’s hard manto-man pressure. It’s there, but not as much.
“But we have a good group back. We’re young, with only one senior and three juniors, so while it doesn’t appear we have a lot of experience back age-wise, we do have a lot of ex perience game-wise. That will help.”
Much of that responsibility will fall on two letterwinners: 5-10 junior guard Lilly Craig, a Times honorable mention player a year ago, and 5-10 senior Eva McCallum.
Two other regulars who were sig nificant contributors as freshmen are back in the post — 6-0 sophomore center Avery Durdan and 5-8 soph omore forward Makayla Backos. Durdan was a starter nearly the en tire season, and Backos the first big off the bench when also not in the starting lineup.
Maera Jimenez, a 5-9 junior, could be the aggressive, physical defensive replacement for Garkey.
However, the remainder of the squad is comprised of less-experi enced sophomores. Those include, at guard, 5-7 Chloe Larson, 5-5 Kealey
Rick, 5-6 Keely Nelson, 5-8 Morgan Nelson and 5-7 Payton Anderson, and 5-11 center Taylor Cuchra and 5-9 forward Caleigh Rick in the post.
The Cru will be hampered early by a late start due to the volleyball team’s advancing to the sectional, but such big-game experience in basket ball, volleyball and softball in recent years should be an asset in tight sit uations.
“This group won’t rattle easily. They’re pretty battle-tested across the board,” Price said. “The girls had a great volleyball season, so we’re get ting them in a little at a time after giv ing them a little break.
“Early on this season, it could be tricky. Hopefully after the first few weeks of the season, the younger girls will be used to this. … The offense will come around later than the de fense early on. Shooting won’t be our strong suit at the start, but it should come around.
“And there’s leadership there. It may not one girl, but a couple of them, and maybe not vocally, but with the way they play, how they handle themselves in practice and show the younger girls how it’s gotta be done.”
Over the years, the Ottawa boys basketball program has been a suc cessful one. Much of that has to do with finding a winning system and sticking to it.
Pirates head coach Mark Cooper, who begins his 19th season, has long had a solid plan year in and year out for how he wants his team play, and the over 300 wins in his tenure is a good indicator the plan works.
“We’ve had a blueprint we have fol lowed for a long time as far as what we want this program to look like,” Cooper said. “We aren’t going to vary off that much. As a coach, you will always have to make some changes due to the kids you have that partic ular season, but I don’t think or be lieve you can completely change what you’re about every year and expect to have sustained success.
“We are going to stick to the for mula we’ve had for a while now, but make adjustments if we feel we need to.”
Ottawa finished last season with a 17-11 overall record and ended 10-4 — good for a tie for second place with Kaneland behind champion Rochelle — after a run through a rugged Intes tate 8 Conference slate. The Pirates reached the Class 3A Rock Island Regional championship game before falling there to the host Rocks.
Cooper will look to replace nine se niors from graduation, including topthree scorers Anthony Miller, Braiden Miller and Luke Cushing.
“We’ve always been a program that is senior dominated,” Cooper said. “We have seven seniors this year that worked very hard last year as juniors on a daily basis and paid their dues a little bit. So now it’s their time to lead
the program.
“We return three seniors that saw a significant amount of playing time in Payton Knoll (6-4), Trace Roether (6-3) and Levi Sheehan (5-11). They
have the experience coming back, so now it’s just a matter of how every thing fits together with the seniors and the juniors.
“Basketball is a hard game, and practice to start any season is hard as well, but I feel like we had a very good first week or so of practice.”
The Pirates’ roster rounds out with seniors Conner Price (6-0), Aiden Mucci (6-0), Jonathan Cooper (6-2) and Matt Haerle (6-2), as well as ju niors Huston Hart (5-10), Keevon Pe terson (5-10), Drake Kaufman (5-11), Lucas Goetz (6-3), Jack Henson (6-3), Garrett Shymanski (6-2) and Cooper Knoll (6-6).
“The beginning of the year will be a lot about us figuring out our depth while also finding out who plays well together,” Coach Cooper said. “I’m guessing like most teams, we are still a week or so into practice trying to figure all that out. I think most years that kind of organically develops over time and when we start playing
against other teams.
“There will be combinations we put on the floor that will have a different style of play than others. I think the Thanksgiving tournament, getting those four games in a short amount of time, will give us a better understand ing of all that.”
Ottawa begins pool play at its own Dean Riley “Shootin’ The Rock” Thanksgiving Tournament on Mon day, Nov. 21, in historic Kingman Gym, taking on Marengo before chal lenging Thornridge (which takes the spot vacated by Dixon) and finally Pontiac. The place games will be held Saturday.
“Our tournament has always been filled with quality teams, and that allows us to really find out exactly where we are at quickly,” Coach Coo per said. “Those games against really good teams to start the season will show your weaknesses, but that then allows you to focus on those and get them corrected.”
The Ottawa girls basketball team this season will look a little different to many who have followed the teams over the past several years, according to head coach Brent Moore.
The Pirates lost four every-game starters — Zoe Harris, Brooke Wad dell, Gabi Krueger and Ella Marvel — to graduation, and also won’t have occasional fifth starter, post Chey enne Joachim.
However, the eighth-year skipper that led the squad to a 23-6 overall mark, including a 11-3 record in the Interstate 8 Conference, feels this year’s team will again be a tough op ponent to deal with.
“We lost some very good players from last year’s team without a doubt, but the cupboard has definitely not been left bare,” Moore said. “We’ll be youthful and have to battle with some mistakes along the way, but we have the talent to be a very solid team again — and I expect us to be a solid team again.
“The pieces to the overall puzzle are all there, now it’s just a matter of how they are all going to fit together.”
Ottawa’s roster will feature four se niors, three juniors, four sophomores and a freshman.
“We going to be small size-wise, but
we also have more athleticism this season, so we are going to run the floor, and we’ve been working on a transition offense since the summer,” Moore said. “On defense we are going to be a team that pressures, pressures, pressures, and that uses jump switches and things of that sort. We are still going to look to play the solid defense we’re know for, but then get it and go.
“We are going to be a young team that is fun to watch play the game of basketball.”
Moore said he will be depending on senior Grace Carroll and sophomore Marlie Orlandi to provide the boost at the offensive end from their guard spots, with the former also being asked to lead the way in all facets of the game.
“She’s our team leader, no ifs, ands or buts about it,” Moore said of Car roll. “She’ll be at the off-guard, but will also play the point at times. She makes us go on both ends of the floor.
“Marlie came off the bench last year as a freshman on a senior-heavy team and showed the ability she could score. We expect her and Grace to be our one-two scoring punch. Marlie can shoot it, she can get to the rim, and her defense has really improved form a year ago.”
Sophomore Ella Schmitz will run the point most of the time, while ju
Best of luck to all of our area high school basketball teams.
nior Kendall Lowery and sophomore Hailey Larsen will play big minutes at the forward spots
“Ella has the drive and mentality to win,” Moore said. “She’s all-in in what we are trying to accomplish, and big things are ahead for her these next three seasons. Kendall tore her ACL freshman year and was still trying to come back off of that as a sophomore, but this year she’s 100% healthy. She is the X-factor for us and a solid player in all facets of the game. Hailey is a smart player that can finish and run like a deer from rim to rim.”
The Pirates, according to Moore, will also need contributions from the rest of a roster that includes seniors Morgan Stone and Michaela Frois land, juniors Hannah Waddell and Tatumn Moore, sophomore Skylar Dorsey and freshman Mary Stisser.
Moore also said senior Ryleigh Stehl may miss much or all of the season with an injury.
“The one thing that will hold us back is me, and I’m going to try and keep my mouth shut,” Moore said with a laugh. “I love slowing it down, running a very patient offense with a number of sets, and we’ll still do that to mix in. But I’ve been preaching to them that we need to move the ball at a faster pace this year, and we have to let them do it.
“I will say we’ve looked pretty good handling the concept so far.”
Ottawa will begin its season Mon day, Nov. 14, at the Prairie Central Thanksgiving Tournament in Fairbury — opening with Pontiac, then games with the host Hawks, Peoria Notre Dame and East Peoria.
