By TYLER HENRY
Little Apple Post contributor
Despite facing a bit of a slow start to their 2022-23 campaign, the Wabaunsee girls’ basketball team is slowly putting the pieces together and working to play with more consistency as we head into the final month of the season.
In stretches, the Lady Chargers have looked like a team that could be a tough out come sub-state time, but inconsistencies and too many turnovers have put Wabaunsee in a number of late holes this year.
“We’re still looking to put four quarters of our best basketball together,” Lady Charger head coach Trevor Keller said. “That’s something we’ve continued to talk about, we play really well for a quarter or two, but we need to put it all together down the home stretch.”
While wins haven’t come easy for Wabaunsee this season, the team that will take the floor in their final seven games is far better than the one that started their first seven, and that improvement has been a welcome sight to the Alma faithful.
“We’ve seen growth in a lot of areas overall but we still need to capitalize on the opportunities we have,” Keller said. “Sometimes we step back from quarter to quarter but we’ve been able to limit our turnovers in stretches and we’ve improved a lot on the offensive boards overall.”
Some of that improvement has been a byproduct of an emerging trio of underclassmen that have provided the Lady Chargers with a real spark.
“We’ve had some younger girls really step up this year,” he said. “Reese Michaelis has come in as a freshman and handled the basketball as she’s figured out what it’s all about. We’ve also had two big sophomores; Harley Ridder has done a great job defensively for us and Ava Huske has stepped into a scoring role. Having those three playing well has been huge for us.”
When added to a mix that includes Kaci and Karli Meseke, who lead the team averaging 10 and 7 a night, and Taryn Maike, who acts as the Charger's leading distributor, Wabaunsee’s offense has, at times, been able to fire on all cylinders despite facing a gauntlet of a league schedule.
“Playing in the Mid-East league is tough,” Keller said. “You have a great team lining up against you night in and night out and it’s a good thing to see that kind of competition. We’re excited about it and we’ll see what we can do when we get into sub-state play.”
Like many teams that have struggled in the first half, turnovers and boards have been the biggest things holding Wabaunsee back from more wins, and will remain the focal point moving into February.
“We still need to take care of the basketball and do an even better job of limiting our turnovers,” he said. “We also need to do a better job of getting rebounds on both sides a little more consistently and getting to the free throw line more.”
If the Lady Chargers can clean up those things and put the pieces together for 32-minute efforts, Wabaunsee could still be a dangerous team to face come sub-state time, but will need to see improvement in those areas to give themselves a chance.
“From day one we’ve talked about getting better each day and playing our best basketball at the end of February and that’s still there for us,” Keller said. “I think we’ve taken some steps forward and we still need to take a few more but if we can do that we’ll see what happens in the postseason.”
Wabaunsee will be back in action on Friday night to face 10-4 Marysville on the road with a 6:00 tip-off.
For continuing coverage of Lady Charger hoops all season long, stay tuned to the Little Apple Post.