Wayne High girls basketball will look to capitalize on their carry-over from summer workouts into practices ahead of the season-opening competition.
There are 16 girls out for Blue Devil girls basketball.
Head coach Aaron Carlson will be entering his sixth year overall coaching and will be starting year number four leading the WHS girls basketball team.
Coach Carlson said the staff has seen a nice balance of going through fundamentals and getting used to having a basketball in their hands.
"I've been really happy because everything from the summer has transitioned pretty nicely," said Carlson. "We just made a couple calls and we're able to get right into things. We hadn't even really had to take time to break down a whole lot of stuff just because some of it's been things the girls have been running the last few years. So, I feel like carry over from our summer basketball into the winter time, into our season has been really good."
Coach Carlson will be joined by Brendan Dorcey, Payton Andel and Jordon Heckert.
With six graduating last year, Wayne High brings in six freshman but with no seniors.
Last year, Wayne High finished 5-18 ending their season in the first round of the C1-7 Subdistrict against West Point-Beemer falling 46-28.
Coach Carlson added more about the youth for this year's Wayne High girls basketball team.
"While I think we're still pretty young there are some people coming back with some varsity experience which I think is important," Carlson added. "There's also some role players that are going to be getting some first time varsity minutes. I think we're young team but we can surprise some people, we're an athletic group and I'm just excited to see how we build throughout the season."
Junior Haley Kramer will be the top returning scorer after averaging nine points per game and 4..5 rebounds per game last season. Fellow junior Reagan McGuire will also bring back 2.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Claire Lutter and Elle Powicki will also be key returning pieces.
The Wayne High girls basketball team will join the boys program for a home jamboree against Howells-Dodge on Monday, December 2 at 5:30/7 p.m.
Coach Carlson has been in contact with the Howells-Dodge coach to prepare both teams for the upcoming season.
"We're going to throw some different things at each other as far as some defenses and presses," Carlson mentioned. "I think it's a great game just to get a little game under our belt. I think it's a great game just to kind of work on some different calls and make sure we're organized and kind of give us a better picture of what we need to know going into that first game against Battle Creek."
WHS basketball begins with road competition at Battle Creek on Friday, December 6 at 6:15/7:45 p.m. and home action against Ponca on Saturday, December 7 at 6/7:45 p.m.
Again, with the addition to the 35-second shot clock for Classes C1 - D2, coach Carlson has been preparing his team for the upcoming adjustments.
"I think teams need to be prepared more when the shot clock gets to 10-12 and they got to get a look," said Carlson. "Whether that's some sort of set, or isolation or some ball screen action. There's a little bit more strategy that goes along with it. I think one of the biggest things getting used to is just having the horn go off. If the shot clock goes off in the middle of the possession, people just got to be able to play through that."
Just like in the recent high school volleyball season, Classes C1 and C2 basketball teams have been assigned in a region for postseason competition.
