After losing only one starter from last year’s 10-14 girls basketball team, Shawano will return eight seniors with the heavy weight of expectations hanging on their backs.
The 10-win season was the first for Shawano Community High School basketball in the past decade.
“There is nothing that can’t happen with these girls,” fourth-year head coach Ryan Koenig said. “I want them to understand that the expectations are there. From a coaching staff, that’s what we are striving for. It’s not just to show up and play .500 ball … You have to take it a step farther.”
The experience of the longtime teammates in Koenig’s system might give the Hawks an edge, especially early in the season.
“We all started together as freshmen, and so now that we worked all the way up to varsity, we just kind of have the feeling of each other,” senior guard Megan Klitzke said. “We know where we are going to be. We have just bonded on and off the court, so it makes us a better unit altogether on the court.”
Koenig said the team’s familiarity with his system and each other has enabled him to push the girls to become even better, instead of focusing on teaching the basics.
“Being senior dominated this year, it’s not going to take as much getting up to speed,” Koenig said. “Putting in our plays and our offense and defense, we can kind of bypass that because they have been in our system for three years, and they should have a good grasp on it, so we should be ahead of the curve where we can work on other stuff that we need to.”
The Hawks averaged 38 points per game last year, but three of the top five scorers have graduated.
SCHS returns eight seniors, including six who played in at least 10 games a season ago, each averaging over three points per contest.
“I think we have a lot of depth on the team, so we can go deep into the bench, and we know whoever is going in can still play and they aren’t going to slow us down,” senior guard Sarah Hokenstad said.
After losing to Hortonville 70-37 in the WIAA regionals last year, this year’s Hawks are looking to make bigger waves in the realigned Bay Conference and postseason play.
“For us, you’ve got to strive for something,” Koenig said, “and for us, it’s not striving for the middle any more, it’s striving for the top. We’re moving up.”
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