Olpe team to beat; new coaches abound this season
By Michael Ashford (Contact)
Friday, November 30, 2007
Burlingame
Three starters are back for the Lady Bearcats, giving coach Eric West a solid foundation to build upon after his squad went 8-13 last season.
Gretchen Vandevord, Miranda Fagan and Meghan Atchison all started on varsity last season, while Heather Kirwan also saw significant minutes. Fagan, a 5-foot-7 forward, leads the returners after averaging 8 points and 8 rebounds as a freshman. The 5-6 Atchison added 6 points and 3 rebounds per game.
But after the top four returners, the rest of the Burlingame roster is expected to be made up of newcomers, with many of the new faces just freshmen.
“We will be very young,” West said. “We will succeed if the new players can mesh with our returning players. This may take some time.”
All-Area volleyball player Brooke Bingham and track star Tabitha Lester will join the squad this year along with Jessica Parsons, while incoming freshmen Shelby Lowe, Danielle Greenwood and Shelby Creviston are expected to fill out the rest of the Lady Bearcats’ roster.
“We will struggle if we can’t rebound. Our lack of size is a concern,” West said. “We hope to make up for it with quickness. We should be able to play pressure-man defense.”
Burlingame will begin its season by playing host to the Burlingame Tournament today through Saturday.
Flinthills
The Lady Mustangs lost the powerful trio of Caley Onek, Lacey Breech and Erin Dragoo to graduation, but a stockpile of upperclassmen should help ease the transition for first-year head coach Julie Muench.
With so much turnover, though, Muench said she envisioned her team’s chemistry could be a work in progress throughout the season.
“It’s going to be a learning process for both my girls and myself,” the coach said. “I am going to learn what works for the team, and they are going to learn what I expect out of them.”
Five-foot-10 center Hannah Jackson and 5-5 forward Trina Carr are expected to fill out starting roles for the Lady Mustangs in their senior seasons, and Muench projected that juniors Dani Riemann (forward) and Myrissia Hilton (guard) and freshman Hope Harsh (guard) to fill out the rest of Flinthills’ starting lineup.
The biggest need for the Lady Mustangs, Muench said, would be for players and coaches alike to learn to work with each other.
“We will struggle if we do not become confident and comfortable with our teammates,” Muench said.
Flinthills opens its season today at the Madison Tournament.
Hartford
First-year Hartford coach Tammy Windle is entering the season with as clean a slate as possible when it comes to determining the makeup of her squad.
But with 17 girls on the roster this season, Windle should have little trouble filling out her lineup. Even so, it might take just a little longer before she decides on starters.
“It’s too early to be sure of who my starters will be since it’s my first year with the team,” Windle said. “We have a good group of senior leaders who will serve as a base for our team, as well as a lot of younger players who will have key roles.”
However, nothing so far has led Windle to believe that returning starters Amy Bolen at center and Jessica Wilson at guard will be anything less this season.
“They were starters last year, and they should be this year also,” Windle said.
After that, a bevy of players will look to fill out the rest of the lineup. Windle listed Samantha Wilkerson, Paige Hamman, Christina Lee, Kim Darbo, Carmen Clark, Kellie Farr, Kristen Williams and Cheyenne Veatch as those players expected to get the most playing time this season.
No matter who plays, though, Windle said her squad would have to do a number of things well if it wants to be successful.
“If we can be aggressive defensively and work together, we will succeed,” she said. “We need to be able to rebound well also.”
Hartford open the 2006-07 campaign at the Lebo Tournament today.
Lebo
Chalk up Lady Wolves coach Jay Applegate as yet another new face in the coaching ranks of the Lyon County League.
Several new faces will be on the sidelines for many LCL schools this year, especially on the girls side. It all makes for a lot of unknowns, and Lebo is no different.
No fewer than eight players are expected to vie for starting positions this season for Lebo, though Applegate said he was still unsure as to who was leading at each spot for the starting roles.
Seniors Tabitha Frye and Kate Marks, junior Chelsie Eagleburger and sophomores Morgan Laflin, Morgan Tastove, Brittany Hase, Lauren Schlesener, Shelby Robke and Taylor Miller all return off last year’s squad, which should help offset the loss of seniors Nickole Presley, an All-League selection, and Chelsey Schlesener.
“Our depth could be a strong point,” Applegate said.
Lebo will play host to its own Lebo Tournament starting today to open the season.
Lyndon
With all five starters back from last season’s team that went 17-7 and made an appearance in the Class 2A State tournament, the Lady Tigers appear to be loaded for a league title run — and perhaps much more — this season.
“We expect to improve on last season’s accomplishments,” coach Frank Hart said. “We hope to be a team to watch in both the Lyon County League and the postseason.”
Lyndon’s entire roster is made up of seniors, led by the five starters who return for Coach Hart’s squad.
Five-foot-4 guard Krista Banzhaf is the leading scorer from a year ago after she averaged 13 points per game on her way to being named second-team All-Lyon County League.
Forward Stephanie Goetz, another second-team all-league selection, averaged 9.7 points a contest a year ago.
Also back as starters are Chelsea Schmitz (8.5 ppg) at forward, Ashley Persinger (7 ppg) at guard and Cara Bolz (7 ppg) at guard.
Filling out the rest of the Lyndon bench will be seniors Kayla Schmidt, Sam Clark, Kelsey Johnson and Andrea Hoke.
With so much returning experience, Hart said his team should be able to handle the competitive nature of playing in the Lyon County League.
“The Lyon County League will continue to be a very good league from top to bottom,” he said. “Playing in a tough league really prepares players for the postseason.”
The Lady Tigers begin their season with a road trip to Northern Heights on Friday.
Marais des Cygnes Valley
A wealth of returning experience has Lady Trojans head coach Donald Dyke optimistic about his team’s chances heading into the 2007-08 season.
Marais des Cygnes Valley returns all five starters from a year ago, when the Lady Trojans went just 6-15 but managed to win their first game in Regional play at the end of the season.
With a roster dotted with three seniors and several other experienced players, Dyke said he was excited about what the season could hold for his squad.
“I feel we will be competitive night in and night out, as long as we play within ourselves,” Dyke said. “I feel we can be a top-five team in the Lyon County League ... if we work as a team and give everything every night.”
Leading the way for the Lady Trojans will be the senior trio of center Cheyenne Russell and forwards Jessica Bell and Jessica Schmidt. The three combined to average 10 points and 11.9 rebounds per game last season and will be called upon to increase their production from both a statistical and leadership standpoint.
Filling the two guard spots will be a pair of sophomores in Destiny Lemmon and Jamie Rice.
A host of experienced underclassmen give Marais des Cygnes Valley good depth off the bench. Juniors Teria Ashlock, Becky Engelken, Amber Roberts, Ase Trulsson and Shelby Vandenburgh and sophomores Cassie Phillips, Emily Rose and Heather Schuyler will fill out the rest of the roster, along with freshmen newcomers Emily Phelon and Jaime Spencer.
Hart said all the experience could be wasted if his team doesn’t play to its capability.
“We have to be strong on the defensive end,” the coach said. “If our defense falters, we are going to have a hard time forcing turnovers, which will lead to easy points.”
The Lady Trojans start their season with a road game at Southern Coffey County on Friday.
Olpe
When a team makes an undefeated run through the regular season and finishes third at the State tournament, chances are that kind of success will be hard to repeat the next season.
But that’s the task head coach Jesse Nelson and the defending League champion Lady Eagles have this season after going 27-1 and coming in third at the Class 1A State tournament a year ago.
“(Last year) was a great year,” Nelson said. “After getting as close as we did to winning it all, third at State was somewhat disappointing, but we played three good games at State. It was still a tremendous season for that team.”
But repeating last year’s feats appears to be a monumental challenge.
Simply put, the Olpe girls lost a massive amount of production from last year’s team, starting with forward Kayla Krueger. Krueger, an All-Area, All-League and All-State first-teamer and a member of the Emporia State women’s basketball team, averaged 21 points per game a season ago.
Add in that All-Leaguers Sammy Maley and Megan Cole graduated, along with Julie Redeker, while All-League selection Brittany Meza transferred to Emporia High, and the Lady Eagles will have a decidedly different look this season.
“We will have to have some real help from some inexperienced kids,” Nelson said. “We have a tremendous amount of work to do to get this team to its potential.”
The lone starter back is All-League and All-Area selection Megan Woods. The 6-foot senior will return at center for the Lady Eagles and will be joined in the starting lineup by fellow seniors Kylie Haag and Erica Brinkman at the two forward spots.
Junior Katie Moyer and surprise freshman Cathryn Flott are expected to start at the guard spots.
There is no shortage of available players off the bench. Juniors Brianne Davis, Nicole Wendling, Tanna Bell and Courtney Kuhlman and freshmen Jill Cole, Angela Bartley, Natalie Kuhlman and Katelyn Henderson fill out the rest of the Olpe roster, giving Nelson plenty of options to work with.
The trick, Nelson said, would be getting all those options to mesh into a working unit.
“This can be a competitive team,” the coach said. “We will have to come together quickly and blend some young kids with the experience of three seniors.
“Everyone is just waiting to kick us around. We lost far more talent and return fewer starters than anyone. We may struggle early, but I think we can be a good team later if we don’t get discouraged by our early schedule.”
Olpe will open its season on Friday at West Elk followed by a home date on Dec. 4 with Madison and then a Dec. 7 trip to Waverly.
Waverly
The Lady Bulldogs must replace a combined 20 points and 6 rebounds per game that graduated with Whitney Good and Amy Schmidt, but Waverly appears to have the depth and the experience to more than make up for what it lost.
Coach Dennis Tyson has a roster full of veteran players to work with, led by 5-foot-11 senior forward Megan Steward, who started every game last year for the 17-8 Bulldogs. Steward nearly averaged a double-double in helping Wavely to a fourth-place finish in the Lyon County League, scoring a team-high 13.8 points per game while grabbing 9.4 rebounds a contest.
Steward will look to provide stability to a starting lineup that will feature several players that received at least part-time starting action last season.
Forward Jayme Haag is the other senior in the projected starting lineup, while three other juniors — forward Lauren Johnson and guards Brenna Wilson and Danyl Chapman — will make up the rest of the starters.
Wilson averaged 6.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game last year.
The Lady Bulldogs also have depth in their favor, as the Waverly bench will be comprised of Heather Schultz, Tiffany Tyson, Kristina Ervin, Sarah Coursen, Julie Gifford, Chelsea Fisher and Kirsten Pyle.
Waverly opens the season at the Burlingame Tournament, which begins today.
Information from Chase County and Madison was not made available to The Gazette at press time.
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