The AGWSR girls basketball team is off to a 6-2 start to its season. The December portion of the schedule ended with consecutive wins over East Marshall and South Hardin to move to 2-1 in the NICL-West. Head Coach David Koop says losses to #13 (3A) Hampton-Dumont-CAL and #15 (1A) Gladbrook-Reinbeck were measurements of where the team stands.
“We had six good wins, and the two losses I think are two losses we needed,” Koop says. “We had a one-point loss to Hampton-Dumont-CAL that could have gone either way, and they’re now ranked in 3A. GR, we didn’t come to play that night, and GR really brought it to us and I didn’t expect them to let up. We needed that loss kind of to bring us back to earth after having a really good start. We have a lot of work to do, and those two games last week are the reason we got two wins this week. If we wouldn’t have had those experiences with those two losses, that might’ve been a different story this week. So I’m happy with 6-2. I think the girls are happy. And when you’re still in contention at Christmas break for a conference title, that’s always a goal.”
Koop says the first six games of January will be not only a gauntlet, but a defining stretch of the schedule. The Cougars will have the luxury of playing five of those games at home.
“We open with Dike-New Hartford, they might not be the same as they have been, but they’ve got a great coach and a great program and you still have to show up every night and play them. Then we got North Tama, who I don’t know a whole lot about, then we got Jesup, Grundy Center, Hudson, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, and those four games for us are going to be huge. I know especially when we play Gladbrook-Reinbeck and Grundy Center, those two games are going to kind of start to show where the conference is gonna end up. I think they’re two winnable games for us after break, but we’re gonna have to show up and play our best, or it’s gonna happen the same as what happened last Friday night.”
They’ll resume the season by hosting Dike-New Hartford on Friday, January 3.
