Lady Blue Dragons bring back core of last year’s team
by Hayden Olofson, GHS Blue Ink
Even though it’s thirty degrees outside, the girls are breaking a sweat in the gym, doing drills, scrimmages, and hustling the ball up and down the court. The Garretson girls’ basketball team started practice this week with two seniors taking the place of one senior last year.
Seniors Aftyn Heitkamp and Rachel Kindt will be filling the shoes of Greenhoff.
Head coach Matt Schrank said, “Kylie Greenhoff graduated and we lost some role players that are not returning to the team this year. So there will be a lot of opportunities for others to step up.”
Last season the Lady Blue Dragons went 13-8 overall, 4-3 in the BEC, taking the consolation championship in the BEC tournament.
Schrank, in his second year as girls’ head coach, along with assistant coach Bev Howe, set some goals. They are hoping to win their conference as well as the conference tournament, a SoDak16 berth is high up on the list, and of course the ultimate goal is a trip out to Rapid City.
While the goals are lofty, they have the components to make it happen. Last season Lizzie Olson was a 1st team Big East All-Conference selection, while Lauren Heesch and Jaelyn Benson were honorable mentions. All three players are returning this season.
The girls’ basketball team at this point is looking for leaders to shine on the court. That opportunity is out there for everyone. This season Coach Schrank hopes to be a little more balanced in scoring as well.
The ladies have a competitive schedule with both conference and non-conference games.
Coach Schrank believes that all teams are beatable, but emphasized a few in conference. “McCook Central/Montrose, Flandreau, and Beresford will be the teams to beat.”
He also said, “We are going to have a balanced attack on offense, and we will be able to throw a lot of different defenses at teams. Our deep bench and versatility will give teams a tough time”.
This girls’ basketball team could be a very exciting team to watch this year. There are a lot of girls that are vying for varsity playing time. There will be a constant competition throughout the year. The community was able to preview that last Thursday night during an inter-squad scrimmage. The Lady Blue Dragons tip off their season at Tri-Valley this Friday as part of a boys-girls double header.
