A social studies teacher at Warsaw Community High School, fourth-year varsity girls basketball coach John Snyder was talking mathematically in a phone conversation about his team Friday morning.
"I figured it up, and we have 75 percent of our minutes back from last year, and 75 percent of our scoring and 75 percent of our rebounding," said Sndyer, whose Tigers open the season tonight at Huntington North.After finishing last season with a 9-12 record, Snyder's Tigers return four starters and will get help from a junior varsity team that posted a 15-5 mark.
"Kelci (Freds) is back, so are Liz (Tat), Courtney (Ogle), Carlye (Snider) and Allison (Reichard)," said Snyder. "They all got minutes last year at the guard position. We're really looking for steady play from our guards. We're going to use a three-guard lineup, and whatever three guards we have out there, we think we're going to get good ball handling."
On a form Snyder filled out for the media, he listed his team's offensive strengths as quickness, perimeter shooting and balanced attack.
It's because of the experience he has in his backcourt that he feels those are pluses for his team.
"Having that experience in the backcourt helps," said Snyder. "Liz Tat has taken her game to the next level, and the girls that were on the JV team last year had a great summer. The last two years we've done a bad job of getting open shots. We've worked on that and we think things are going to be different this year. We're going to try and be more efficient this year. One, we want to have few turnovers, and two, we want to get to the free throw line more and get open shots."
Holding down the post will be returning starter Katie Denlinger, who comes back for her senior season after averaging 8.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last year.
Helping Denlinger in the frontcourt will be senior Megan Davis and a pair of first-time varsity players in sophomore Sarah Shilling and freshman Kayla Stout.
Shilling, the tallest player on Warsaw's roster at 6-0, played basketball in middle school but chose not to play last year. Stout is listed on the Tiger roster at 5-10, while Denlinger is 5-11.
The 5-9 Davis started in the post last year and returns this year but will miss the first part of the season with a knee injury.
"She's going to help a lot," Snyder said when asked about Shilling coming out for the team this year. "It's going to take time, she's a little behind after not playing last year, but she's definitely going to help in the post. Both her and freshman Kayla Stout are going to play a couple quarters of JV and then work their way into the varsity game. The depth they're going to give us is huge. And once we get Megan Davis back from her injury, we should be pretty strong in the post."
Warsaw's varsity roster includes 12 players and is rounded out by sophomore guards Kaelee Sands and Cendall Ogle and junior post player Alex Glenn.
After numbers were somewhat down last year, Snyder said he is excited about this year's team.
"Last year the numbers were a bit low," said Snyder. "I think it was something teams all over are going through. We're pretty happy with our numbers this year. Our numbers are pretty good."
After tonight's season opener at Huntington North, the Tigers play Friday at Tippecanoe Valley and then host Crown Point a week from today.
Warsaw's first six games, which also includes contests with DeKalb, Whitko and Fort Wayne Northrop, will take place in a span of 18 days.
The Tigers' next five games will be spread out over just 16 days.
Once again this year, Warsaw will play a number of games in a short amount of time, and the Tigers will face Class 3A state-ranked Wawasee (No. 3), Plymouth (No. 4) and NorthWood (No. 8) in Northern Lakes Conference play.
"I think the conference, as always, is going to be very good," said Snyder. "I think we have a team that's going to be able to compete. I think we can challenge for sectional championship, which is always our goal. Every tournament we're in, whether it's the Lady Tiger Tournament or the sectional or whatever, we want to win. Aside from that, really our goal is to just get better as the season goes along. The girls said their goal was to end the season with no regrets."
Just as the players' roster has a few new faces, so does the lineup of coaches.
Joining Snyder on the bench this year will be JV coach Michelle Harter, Mindy Stookey, Barb Martz and Relsa Snyder.
Adam Esterline and Nikki Wood will coach the freshmen team.
Stookey, formerly Mindy Metzger, played at Tippecanoe Valley, while Martz, formerly Barb Derry, played for the Tigers and IPFW.
Sndyer, the head coach's wife, played at Columbia City High School and then finished her hoops career by playing collegiately at was then called Huntington College.
"I've tried to surround myself by strong basketball minds and good role models for the girls," said Snyder. "I'm pleased with how the girls have responded with the changes."
