After graduating nearly 95% of last year’s total offensive production, the Wakefield girls basketball team has gone back to the basics taking it one possession at a time.
The Trojans will be made up of 14 players including a freshman class of five.
Cory Brown will be starting year number six with the program and third year as head coach.
Coach Brown talked about what the team has been working on early in the season.
“Trying to be aggressive, take care of the ball, attack the hoop, make smart decision/smart passes,” said Brown. “Basically, kind of take care of the ball and we’ve really been working on defense.”
Coach Brown will be joined by Darren Sindelar on staff.
This year’s seniors are Alli Brown and Isabella Andrade.
Returning starting experience will be Alli Brown in the same role along with sophomore Boston Brown moving into the point guard position and sophomore Montse Avila who is coming off an ankle injury during the volleyball season.
The Trojans lost a majority of their scoring being Jordan Metzler, Daveigh Munter-McAfee and Katie Borg which calculated to be 90-95% of their scoring.
Others coach Brown highlighted were junior Ashlyn Riewer, Andrade along with the freshman class of five.
“We just need them (team) to step up and take care of the ball and not get in a rush and be silly with it,” Brown added. “They’ve asked about the 35 second clock but I’m not worried about that at all. I think we’re trying to get the first good shot and take it and rebound and see what happens. I think these young girls are coming right along in practice, so I think they’ll do the same in games.”
Boston Brown will be the team’s leading returning scorer averaging 5-6 points per game.
Coach Brown mentioned the staff will see how the team handles another varsity level team.
“Trying to get our decision making so we’re doing the right plays, the right offense,” Brown mentioned. “Positioning on defense in our zone and trying to get that right and seeing if we can handle a press. Plainview had a heck of a team last year and they really came at you. I expect the same thing from them. Just seeing how we can handle the pressure and speed of everything.”
Wakefield girls basketball will open their regular season against last year’s Class C2 state champion Pender Pendragons on Thursday, Dec. 5. Girls action will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. followed by boys competition around 8 p.m.
The Trojans finished 10-12 last season.
Coach Brown said taking care of the ball will be key along with defensive pressure and rebounding against their opponents this winter.
“We’re really focusing on the basics right now just to try and get these girls comfortable of what’s going on,” said Brown. “Hopefully as we get going into the season, we got a really tough first four games but if we can get through that and keep our heads up and get a win or two out of there we’ll be feeling really good.”
Home opening competition for Wakefield girls basketball will be on Saturday, Dec. 7 with Howells-Dodge in town starting with girls action at 3:15 p.m. followed by the boys game.
