Last season the Arlington Eagles girls basketball team struggled to get league wins before finding their groove in the playoffs. The girls won four playoff games in the 3A bracket before falling to Mount Vernon in a winner-to-state game. Arlington led Mount Vernon by five points with one minute remaining before allowing a late comeback by their opponent.
This years team looks primed to make another run at the state tournament while enjoying more success along the way.
Kyra Prause, Quinn Kesselring and Sheryl Scheppele, three talented guards will lead the team this season. The girls compliment each other well due to a diversity of skills. Prause is a prototypical slasher, going hard to the hoop and finishing around the rim.
Shes probably our best rebounder, said Coach Nathan Davis. She goes hard after the ball and shes tall for a guard.
Kesselring will run the point for Arlington and distribute the basketball. Shes also tall for a guard, standing 510.
We get some advantages by putting Quinn in the blocks, said Davis. We create a lot of mismatches by posting up our guards and pulling the posts out to the perimeter.
Scheppele is a more traditional guard at 56 tall. Shes a ferocious on-ball defender and the teams best pure shooter.
Sheryl applies a lot of pressure, said Davis. Were going to count on her to key our defense.
The guards will be joined by returning post players Kjirsten Jensen and Kayla Cornist. Jensen provides a strong, physical presence inside the paint.
She has a nice shot, said Davis. Its a good, clean release.
Cornist will bounce back and forth between the perimeter and the post. She provides solid rebounding and a consistent midrange jumpshot.
Arlingtons team will also be bolstered by the return of Christina White from injury. White suffered through Graves Disease last season and was unable to participate.
She did not have her usual energy, said Coach Davis. Now shes rehabbed well. Shes instant offense for us. She gets the ball and gets to the basket.
A lefthander, White provides a good compliment to the other guards.
People look at our record last year and see that we didnt win that many games going into the playoffs, said Davis. We nearly made it to state anyway. This year the girls all had good summers. They are excited and confident that we can compete to go to state. I think we have as good a shot as ever to get there.
Davis insists that the main emphasis for the year will be improvement from game to game.
We want to get better as the season goes along, he said. The girls dont worry about things that happened last year.
Davis concedes that having such a young team poses a few challenges.
There will always be issues in terms of decision making and overall polish, said Davis. By the time the holiday break rolls around we should be in pretty good shape. The girls will have more game experience taking care of the basketball and executing.
Davis intends to play a high pressure defense, emphasizing a number of different types of full-court press. However, he wants the team to also execute sharply in the half-court.
We need discipline, said Davis. When it comes down to crunch time we need to be able to run our stuff. My big emphasis will be taking care of the basketball and executing our sets. Thats what wins playoff games.