(Anita) CAM girls basketball coach Joe Wollum expects to field one of the deepest teams he’s ever had. The Cougars are coming off of a 16-7 season.
Coach Wollum says, “We have some upperclassmen that have significant playing time the last couple of years that are back and I think we also bring into the fold a very talented freshman class. It’ll be interesting to see how we mix all the pieces together. I think it’ll probably be one of the deepest teams we’ve ever had. I think we’ll probably play 10-12 girls every night so I’m excited for that as well. Expectation wise we want to be competitive and compete for that conference championship. We think we definitely have the pieces where we can be competitive night in and night out.”
One of the key players they’ll have to replace is multi-year starter Sammi Jahde along with Allison Spieker. “Sammi Jahde was our primary ball handler from a year ago so that’s going to be the main focus to see whose going to step into that role and knock down some three’s.”
Some of the production coming back includes Zoey Baylor who averaged 11.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 3.4 steals per game last year. Marissa Spieker averaged 9 points per game while Mallory Behnken, Reese Snyder, Naomii Grubbs, and Molly Venteicher were other contributors.
Wollum is excited about what freshman class can contribute. “A good group as a whole. Eva Steffensen got some volleyball playing time right away as a freshman. She can do a lot of things. She’s very versatile. She can post up or go out and shoot the three and handle the ball. For a girl of her height that makes her a tough matchup. Kiera Nichols is fearless and as a coach you really like that. She’s going to hustle, dive on the floor for loose balls, and do a lot of the little things that get her on the court as a freshman and Meredith Rich does a lot of those same things too.”
The Cougars have posted five straight winning seasons and aren’t expecting any kind of dip anytime soon. “It definitely helps and it kind of inspires the girls when they are young to want to pick up a basketball and play the game and compete at a high level. We are seeing some of our success at the high school level trickling down. It’s exciting to have girls keep coming in every year that really want to play and compete right away as freshmen.”
Exira-EHK returns the majority of their production from a regional final team last year and will likely be a Rolling Valley Conference favorite, but several others will be competitive. Coach Wollum says they want to play up-tempo and press so that’s something they’ll be working to get ready for during the first couple of weeks of practice.
