SOUTH WHITLEY — In his first year as coach of Whitko High School’s girls basketball team, Brandon Bradley had some experienced players to rely on. In his second year, that won't be the case. Graduated from last year's 9-13 team, which lost in the second round of Class 3A Sectional 23 to Bellmont, is four-year starter Micaela Sylvester, three-year starter Karissa Olinske, as well as 2011-12 starters Cassie Jones, Katee Reiff. Also graduated are Lynsi Hicks and Megan Zumbrun, who each came off the bench. “Karissa and Michaela finished as the second and third all-time leading scorers in school history, (respectively),” Bradley said. “Micaela also finished second in assists and third in steals, and Olinske finished fifth in steals. It’s just one of those things where, you can replace talent, but you can never replace experience with inexperience. That’s kind of where we’re at right now. “I’m kind of happy I played as many girls as I did last year, because we graduated four starters and six seniors in total,” he added. The bulk of Whitko's returning experience will be in 5-foot-3 senior point guard Cagney Craig, who's been playing varsity since she was a freshman. “Cagney Craig, she’s played varsity since her freshman year," Bradley said of the guard who averaged 6.8 points, two rebounds, two steals and two assists as a junior. “She was an (Indiana Basketball Coaches Association) Top 100 invitee this summer. She obviously brings a lot of experience back. Last year, she was what we called our sixth starter.” Along with Craig, Whitko also returns 6-foot junior center Jordan Hall and 5-10 forward/center Bailee Juillerat, who's currently ninth on the program's all-time blocks list. With Hall and Juillerat, the Lady Wildcats will have some size in the post, as Hall averaged 2.6 and 3.5 boards a game and Juillerat put up 3.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, backing up Hall off the bench. “We’re trying to get them both on the floor together,” Bradley said about the two post players. Other returnees with experience are senior forwards Melanie Kelsey and Josie Sparks and junior guard Kelly Reiff. Outside of those six returning letter winners, Bradley needs to integrate some inexperience into the mix. “At this point, we have any combination of seven or eight more girls,” Bradley said of who will contribute outside of the aforementioned girls. “It depends day to day, week to week based on health, production and effort in the practice. We actually have a great deal of talent. We have several sophomores and one or two freshmen that are talented. They just have very little experience. Essentially, it’s going to come down to who can handle the varsity load.” Hoping to add some production will be 6-2 junior Abby Aldering, who missed last season with an injury, as did 5-6 sophomore Aly Nicodemus. Those who were on the court last year, but on the junior varsity level, are a trio of sophomores, including 5-5 guard Reghan Craig, 5-6 guard Heather Bryan and 5-9 forward Maddie Gawthrop. New to the team is 5-10 sophomore forward Gretta Schneider, who transferred from Lakeland Christian Academy. At LCA, Schneider had some success, particularly on the boards, but adjusting to play at Whitko will take some time. A couple of other new faces will be 5-9 freshman forward Jen Reiff and 5-8 freshman guard Avaree Freel. Jen Reiff has impressed, but like Schneider, she's not going to be bursting onto the scene. “Honestly, she might be the most talented player, but she’s a freshman, so she’s never played at this level,” Bradley said. “It’s going to take her time to get through a couple junior varsity games to find out how physical and how fast the games really are.” Also helping the inexperienced team is a downgraded schedule from previous seasons. For the past few years, Whitko's opened its season against Central Noble, Columbia City and Churubusco, which it also does this year, but followed it with a string of very tough competition. Last season, Whitko followed their first three games with Class 4A schools Elkhart Memorial, Fort Wayne Northrop and Warsaw, losing by a combined score of 168-96. Along with that string of strong opposition, Whitko also played perennial Class 1A powerhouse Fort Wayne Canterbury, as well as Class 3A No. 1 Norwell during the year. In all, Whitko played four teams that went on to win their respective sectional, including Canterbury, which won its fourth 1A state championship in the last five years. “Last year 12 of our opponents were ranked in their class at one point during the season,” Bradley said. “We played three 4A teams last year, and they were all in the first couple weeks of the season. We went from Elkhart Memorial, to (Fort Wayne) Northrop to Warsaw. We didn’t have an easy schedule.” Gone from last year's schedule are Memorial, Canterbury and Triton, being replaced with LCA, Southern Wells and Adams Central. When the Lady Wildcats open their season Tuesday at home against Central Noble, they'll be using a methodical offense, trying to minimize any mistakes that can occur with inexperienced players. “Offensively, we’re going to have to be very patient and very efficient,” Bradley said. “Losing your second and third all-time leading scorers, and three of your top four scorers from last year, we’re going to have to work to score points early in the season. With that in mind, we’re going to need to be great in transition defense and be great in half-court defense. We need to minimize transition points and offensive rebounds.” Despite losing 67 percent of their scoring from last year, Whitko isn't going to concede anything this season. “We want to win now,” Bradley said. “We have enough talent. I honestly believe we’re not any less physically talented than we were a year ago. A lot of it depends on if we can keep our six veterans healthy and on the court. If we can, we’ll be fine. It’s just that once we get into the bench, it’s how we’re going to develop that talent.”
