The AGWSR girls basketball team has entered the offseason with some objectives cut out for next season.
After a 13-10 season, Head Coach Mike Finger has identified some key shortcomings that if improved next year, could turn close games from losses to wins.
“If we could have broken the press more consistently over the entire year, that certainly would have helped our chances,” Finger says. “In addition to our perimeter shooting, our free throw shooting was just under 50 percent. Nobody would be satisfied with a free throw shooting percentage like that. We did shoot quite a few free throws in most games. And so we didn’t have a real deep bench this year. There were probably five to six games where it was a back and forth battle through three quarters and maybe even three and a half quarters. And then we just didn’t quite have enough in the closing minutes to withstand kind of a late game charge or some pressing activity.”
Senior starters and second team all-conference players Ava Olson and Karis Lippert will depart. However, conference MVP junior Josie Kuper and fellow first team all-conference selection junior Trevyn Smith will return as the top scorers and rebounders. Finger says they and other key players give him optimism for the future.
“We’ve got two first team all-conference and the most outstanding player coming back. So that obviously provides a pretty solid nucleus to build around. Really excited to have those two back. Another junior who got some playing time, not a ton, is Ella Diemer. Ella had some practices and JV games where she shot the ball from the perimeter pretty well. Next year will be an opportunity for her to earn some significant playing time. That brings an air of excitement.”
The Cougars went 5-3 in the NICL-West and had their season end in the regional semifinals.
