(Griswold) Griswold won their first two basketball games of the year, but have since lost five in a row.
The Tiger girls have endured some growing pains. Here’s head coach Chris Hamilton, “Initially we showed a lot of progress between last year and this year. We are still trying to figure it out. We still have some bad habits we are trying to work on, but overall the girls continue to fight. We’ve played at least one good quarter in every single game. We are trying to put everything together.”
The Tigers have six players averaging between four and eight points per game. Coach Hamilton likes the scoring balance that Brenna Rossell, Kalainee Teaney, Josie Mundorf, McKenna Wiechman, Hope Ogg, and Mikala Pelzer provide. “It’s really nice. For instance the other night we were in some foul trouble and it’s nice to not have one player get in foul trouble and then have problems scoring the basketball. Anyone on our team can come in and score and anyone can come in and play good defense.”
Coach Hamlton has been pleased with his team’s play on the interior. “Our posts overall have improved so much.” Players such as Kalainee Teaney and Josie Mundorf been steady forces down low, “Our posts have been a welcome sight.”
Their last outing was a 53-44 loss to East Mills on December 18th. They won’t play again until January 4th at Lenox. Coach Hamilton is looking to make the most of that two week window in between. “I think this Christmas Break will really help us improve as a team. Just having those extra practices and being able to calm down focus on some skill building a little more before we have to get into games. I think it’s going to benefit us more than most teams. I’m just looking forward to getting back to work.”
The main priority remains cutting down on turnovers. “Right now we average 24 turnovers per game. That’s pretty much been the difference in most of these games. Some teams are pressing us pretty hard, but a lot of teams are just doing a half court trap and we seem to get nervous with it and throw the ball away and that provides a ton of layups for the other team.”
Hamilton believes if they can cut down on their turnovers they’ll be a quality team that’s tough to beat every single night.
