(Anita) CAM returns the bulk of their lineup from a girls basketball team that won 17 games last year.
The Cougars are looking to carry over some momentum from a good fall according to coach Joe Wollum. “Keep living out that energy from the fall. A state championship football team, a conference championship volleyball team, success breeds success. We want to be able to continue to build on that success and we’ve talked about it with our girls. Last year we were one of the top sixteen teams teams making it to the regional final and we want to improve on that.”
They bring back three of their top four scorers and a host of other contributors, but that doesn’t mean their won’t be some holes to fill. “Every year is a different year so absolutely there are some question marks. How are our seniors going to step up and handle the leadership role? That’s probably the biggest question I have right now and hopefully we get the answer to that really quick. It’s been a great start to the year with our practices and scrimmages.” The group won comfortably in their season opener on Tuesday against AHSTW.
Eva Steffensen led the team in scoring as a freshman at 10.7 points per game. Mallory Behnken averaged 5.9 points per game and will be a key senior leader. “Mallory Behnken, I’m real excited to see her this year. She’s really asserted herself in the post and she can step out and shoot the three. She had a great summer. I’m anticipating her to have a big year and to have more impact than she has had. The same thing with Eva Steffensen. Pretty good breakout freshman year, but at the end of the year was not happy with the way she shot the ball, particularly from the outside. She spent a lot of time in the gym getting better at that shot, bringing her mom with her. I think she’s going to impress people with her growth from her freshman year to her sophomore year.”
They are stressing playing fast, but doing so without turning the ball over.
CAM coach Joe Wollum:
