Lady Trojans Look To Rebound This Year
November 5, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.
Lady Trojans Look To Rebound This Year
By Mark Howe-
“With a lot of kids with experience returning we will be looking for a little more confidence and composure on the floor this year,” he said. “We had a lot of girls getting their first varsity action last year and we played a little scared and timid at times, with more experience we hope to see that confidence grow this season.”
Part of what caused last year’s team to go with such green players was a second knee injury to now-senior Whytnie Miller, who set a great example of hard work in rehabbing in preparation for one last go-round on the hardwood.
“It’s great to have Whytnie back for her senior season,”?Heckaman said. “After tearing her ACL her sophomore season and then tearing her other one five games into last season it has been a tough road for her.
“She had worked relentlessly to be able to be back for this season and we are excited to have her and her leadership back on the floor.”
Scoring was a significant issue for last year’s Lady Trojans team, who were held to 30 or fewer points in 14 of 23 games, and a total of 28 in the last two contests of the season.
Junior Lexia Hostrawser returns after being the top scorer for the team last year, and Heckaman will be looking for contributions from many, including sophomore guard Taren Yates, who played an average of 16 minutes in 22 games, including eight starts, last year.
“We have our top scorer returning from last year but we lost our most consistent outside shooter (Delanie Groves). We will be looking for a lot of different girls to step up and score points and will be looking in practice to see who will emerge as our more consistent outside shooters,” Heckaman said.
“We are looking to get consistent scoring again from Lexia and are expecting to see everyone else step up there scoring this season so we will have multiple options.”
An area of strength for the young Lady Trojans last year was defense; opponents averaged just 42 points a game last season.
“Defense is effort and we always expect that out of the girls,” Heckaman said. “We are working on some new things defensively and hope that it can translate into a little more offensively for us.
“We know that our defense has to be consistent because there are always off nights offensively, so we are looking to maintain that same intensity on the defensive end this season.”
While everyone on the team has a strong competitive streak in them, Heckaman explained the team goals don’t vary from year to year.
“Each season our goal is the make sure we improve everyday and to make sure we are playing our best at the end of the year,” he said. “If we can look back on the season and see the improvement we hope to see from the beginning of the season to the end of the season then we will be happy with the end results.”
Triton begins its 2019-20 campaign tonight at John Glenn High School in Walkerton. Varsity tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., or about 30 minutes after the junior varsity game.
“With a lot of kids with experience returning we will be looking for a little more confidence and composure on the floor this year,” he said. “We had a lot of girls getting their first varsity action last year and we played a little scared and timid at times, with more experience we hope to see that confidence grow this season.”
Part of what caused last year’s team to go with such green players was a second knee injury to now-senior Whytnie Miller, who set a great example of hard work in rehabbing in preparation for one last go-round on the hardwood.
“It’s great to have Whytnie back for her senior season,”?Heckaman said. “After tearing her ACL her sophomore season and then tearing her other one five games into last season it has been a tough road for her.
“She had worked relentlessly to be able to be back for this season and we are excited to have her and her leadership back on the floor.”
Scoring was a significant issue for last year’s Lady Trojans team, who were held to 30 or fewer points in 14 of 23 games, and a total of 28 in the last two contests of the season.
Junior Lexia Hostrawser returns after being the top scorer for the team last year, and Heckaman will be looking for contributions from many, including sophomore guard Taren Yates, who played an average of 16 minutes in 22 games, including eight starts, last year.
“We have our top scorer returning from last year but we lost our most consistent outside shooter (Delanie Groves). We will be looking for a lot of different girls to step up and score points and will be looking in practice to see who will emerge as our more consistent outside shooters,” Heckaman said.
“We are looking to get consistent scoring again from Lexia and are expecting to see everyone else step up there scoring this season so we will have multiple options.”
An area of strength for the young Lady Trojans last year was defense; opponents averaged just 42 points a game last season.
“Defense is effort and we always expect that out of the girls,” Heckaman said. “We are working on some new things defensively and hope that it can translate into a little more offensively for us.
“We know that our defense has to be consistent because there are always off nights offensively, so we are looking to maintain that same intensity on the defensive end this season.”
While everyone on the team has a strong competitive streak in them, Heckaman explained the team goals don’t vary from year to year.
“Each season our goal is the make sure we improve everyday and to make sure we are playing our best at the end of the year,” he said. “If we can look back on the season and see the improvement we hope to see from the beginning of the season to the end of the season then we will be happy with the end results.”
Triton begins its 2019-20 campaign tonight at John Glenn High School in Walkerton. Varsity tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., or about 30 minutes after the junior varsity game.
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