SYRACUSE - Wawasee girls basketball coach Kem Zolman describes his team as an experienced, inexperienced team.
"I know that sounds weird," the 13th-year coach of the Lady Warriors said. "I say it because we have five seniors, four of which have seen significant minutes. We have a couple sophomores in KiLee Knafel and Kiley Cooper with some time. Knafel has a lot of time on the court, but she's still just a sophomore."As a freshman, Knafel led the Warriors with 13.5 points a game, while also hauling in 3.4 rebounds, 1.3 steals and an assist a game, making the All-Northern Lakes Conference team.
"Knafel's going to be seeing teams playing her differently, because she's not an unknown," Zolman said.
Knafel noticed more defensive attention being shifted her way toward the end of the last season, but as a sophomore, Zolman is hoping she has learned enough to adapt.
"Her biggest area of improvement is speed," he said. "She needs to get her shot off quickly, be able to penetrate and be able to receive contact and finish. As a freshman, you're just able to come in and play. She didn't see the physical stuff until the end of the season against Northridge and NorthWood. Now, she needs to know she can just hit the floor and go up with the ball instead of hesitating. As a freshman, you're in awe, then as a sophomore you're frustrated because you can't do the same things you used to do. Then, as a junior, the light switch turns on. We're hoping her switch turns on sooner."
As the team's leading scorer a year ago, Knafel helped the Lady Warriors to an 11-10 record. Wawasee got knocked out of the first round of sectionals by NorthWood 47-33.
This season, Zolman will have a little more size with the 6-foot-1 Cooper and 6-2 senior Kealah Alexander, 6-0 senior Amy Walker and 5-8 Brette Ayres.
"We're long," Zolman said. "We're probably as long as we've been since I've been here."
That length doesn't necessarily relate to experience, as Walker is the only girl to have seen signficant minutes over the past two seasons.
Senior Kalyn McDaniel returns as the point guard for the Lady Warriors, and according to Zolman, she's been working on taking care of the ball. In her first season at the point, McDaniel averaged four turnovers and 1.9 assists.
"She was pretty embarassed about last year, but this is a different season," Zolman said. "This year, with experience and the time she's spent on her game, she should be much improved."
Senior Jonna Wiggs joins Walker as Zolman's most experienced players, providing an outside shot, hitting 35 percent of her three-point attempts.
In order for Wiggs and Knafel, a 39-percent three-point shooter, to get those outside shots off, they will rely on the play of McDaniel as well as the play in the post.
"We play against a lot of zone defenses," Zolman said. "The key will be our inside game and how they move. The bigs will have a significant role on what we do."
The bigs' mobility will also have something to say in how the Warriors play defense.
"We like to pressure on, but sometimes we can't," Zolman said. "We may be able to put pressure on, but I don't know how deep we'll be. A couple of years ago, we didn't have much post play, so we were able to put pressure on."
Wawasee opens its season Friday at Westview. The Lady Warriors open conference play Dec. 10 at home against Goshen.
"I don't see it being much different than last year," Zolman said about the NLC.
Last year, Warsaw won the conference with a 6-1 mark, but lost eight seniors, including four starters, one of which was 2009-10 Times-Union All-Area Player of the Year Kelci Freds.
"I think Warsaw is going to be head and shoulders above the rest," Zolman said. "They'll be good with their pool of girls. Memorial is always athletic, and there's also NorthWood. I think Northridge might sneak in the mix too."
