Nine returning letter winners will lead the Winner Lady Warriors basketball team as they open the season Dec. 9 at Wagner. This will be a girls and boys double header.
The Lady Warriors finished second last year at the state tournament as the fell to St. Thomas More in the championship game.
Winner finished the season with a 21-5 record. Gone from last year’s team are Allison Cox, Bailey Volmer, Sydney Fritz, Kylie Horstman, Haylay Halverson, Calah Covey and Edith Eagle Hawk.
The nine letterwinners are: Gabby Kocer, Samantha Schuyler, Alexis Richey, Abby Marts, Chloe Bartels, Madyson Frazier, Kyren Meek, Rachel Sherman and Sidney Hollenbeck. Last year Sherman did not play due to a torn ACL.
Even though Winner does not have any returning starters coach Larry Aaker says there are five to six girls who have seen significant playing time. “They came into the game a lot and played a reserve role,” he said. There are 26 girls out this season including 6 seniors, 3 juniors, 8 sophomores, 8 freshmen and 7th grader Bella Swedlund.
Aaker says in the line up is a good mix. There are a couple of guards, couple of post players. Some of the older girls are good defenders and are scrappy. Some of the younger girls have good offensive skills. “Hopefully they can progress on the defensive side. By the end of the season if we can get a good mix we will be in good shape,” explained Aaker. In practice the girls have been working on the press, defense and shooting drills.
Aaker looks for the Lady Warriors to play an up tempo game. “The key for us is shooting layups and not spend too much time in the half court.” Aaker looks for some good shooters this year and feels the Lady Warriors will shoot more 3 point shots than they have in the past.
Winner is a member of both the Big Dakota and SESD Conference. The Lady Warriors were the Big Dakota champs and placed second to MVP in the SESD. As he looks at the Class A teams in the state, Aaker says there are a lot of good teams with probably St. Thomas More being the favorite. According to Aaker, other top teams will be Webster who Winner played in last year’s state tournament, West Central, McCook Central/Montose and Hamlin. Assistant coaches will be Sam Olson with Rob Cox as a volunteer assistant.
The 2016-2017 schedule includes:
Dec. 9—at Wagner
Dec. 15—South Central, home
Dec. 17—Sully Buttes, home
Dec. 22—Parkston, home
Dec. 27—at Bon Homme
Dec. 30—Snowball Classic in Winner
Jan. 3—Chamberlain, home
Jan. 5—at Todd County
Jan. 7—Gregory, home
Jan. 10—at Valentine
Jan. 14—at Dakota State Classic
Jan. 17—Bennett County, home
Jan. 19—Pine Ridge, home
Jan. 23—at Miller
Jan 27—MVP, home
Feb. 2—Crow Creek
Feb. 4—at CEB
Feb. 9—at Platte-Geddes
Feb. 10—at McLaughlin
Feb. 17—Mobridge-Pollock, home
Feb. 21—Region
Feb. 23 and March 3—Region
March 9-11—State A in Brookings
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