Following a one-win season, the Winside girls basketball team will return an experienced group who will look for a strong start to the year.
There will be 11 out for the Wildcats which is average from year’s past and includes four incoming freshmen.
Devin Gnat will be entering her sixth year leading the Winside girls basketball team.
Coach Gnat said the core of the team is back.
“So, it’s kind of a team that knows each other pretty well, we played a lot of summer ball together,” said Gnat. “They just work really hard with whatever me and my assistant coach want them to do they’re trying to do it to the best of their abilities. So, they’re kind of hungry to get on the court and just compete every single game.”
Joining coach Gnat will be Austin Buss as an assistant.
Winside played their Jamboree against Tekamah-Herman on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Coach Gnat added the team was a little rusty and nervous during their pre-season game.
“Ended up losing 61-55 at the end of the game,” Gnat added. “But I mean overall for our first game and being able to battle back that many times from down double digits I was pretty proud of them. We just had some things we had to fix. Tekamah-Herman hit some good outside shots.”
The Winside girls basketball team finished 1-18 last year and will look to snap a 15-game losing streak.
The Wildcats will have their top scorers back, being sophomores Ellie Topp and Hadleigh Schutt both at 7.6 points per game. Schutt was also to the top rebounder at 8.0 per game and added 2.1 steals per game followed by Topp at 7.7 rpg.
Coach Gnat is also excited to see incoming freshman Bridget Marotz progress throughout her first year of varsity competition.
The lone senior will be Sam Gubbels and the team will return all five starters along with additional freshmen and returning sophomores who were bench players a year ago.
“But now they’re even more comfortable and we’re able to sub and rotate even more than we were able to last year,” Gnat mentioned. “So, that’s nice to see. They’re kind of used to playing with each other and just kind of getting better. Each girl I would say is more confident obviously than last year, more confident in themselves and in the team overall.”
The Winside girls basketball season will begin on Friday, Dec. 6 hosting Wynot. JV action will begin at 4 p.m.
Coach Gnat said if the team can settle in and calm the nerves, Winside girls basketball can play well.
“Just working on breaking the press and being patient with that,” said Gnat. “Then hopefully kind of making teams pay a little bit more for pressing us and getting some transition buckets. We just always want to keep continuing to work on that and then obviously defense and rebounding is what we’re always trying to improve on.”
Winside will then play five straight on the road leading up to the Summerland Holiday Tournament later this month.
