The North Butler girls basketball team will return two starters followed by a younger group stepping up to gain valuable varsity experience this season. The Bearcats went 4-18 last season and graduated four seniors, with three being everyday starters.
North Butler Head Coach Jordan Nolz on returning starters Colby Wix and Jady Thorne’s preparation for this season.
“Colby, ever since she’s been back, has been back in the weight room. She was full force in volleyball, so we started to see her get back into shape and get back to where she was in the weight room. That’s good to see, but we haven’t been able to see as much basketball from her due to not being able to play in the summer,” says Nolz. “JD, her only sport is basketball and that’s kind of what she’s diehard for. She hits the gym with a lot of shots, gets a lot of shots up, does some different work with our youth and doing workouts with them. She’s really gaining experience and knowledge. That’s really one of the main things that she needed to work on in the offseason, was the fundamental cores and knowing where that ball is going.”
Junior Jady Thorne returns as the second leading scorer with 96 points, averaging 4.4 points per game last season and added 44 assists as the Bearcats floor general. Junior Colby Wix scored 88 points, averaging 4.2 points per game and had the third most rebounds on the team at 68 last season.
Nolz on building confidence and mission of growth for players on and off the court.
“We have two girls returning from last year. Other girls are either freshmen or only really played JV. We really need to focus on offensively our fundamental core, and being confident with the basketball. Our goal is to create an environment for our girls to grow both on and off the court. We want to hold our athletes accountable as they work to instill values including accountability, work ethic, teamwork, respect, leadership, and more. That’s our overall mission statement. As we develop that into the season, I think those kind of values help you actually build a core for your team and for these girls as they’re maturing through their high school years.”
North Butler will host Northwood-Kensett in season opener on Tuesday, December 3rd.
