According to coach Jason Longmeier, four things need to happen for this edition of Seymour girls basketball to be successful.
Well, four players need to play well every game if the Owls want to put together more wins than losses this season.
Longmeier pointed out Aidan Hiester, Alyssa Perry, Grace Meyer and Grace Schrader as the cornerstones for success this year, saying each of them is going to have to step up if the team wants to be successful.
Hiester will be the lone senior for the Owls, and Longmeier said the team stands to break in plenty of underclass players as they switch to a more aggressive play style.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“We’re young, we’ve got one senior on the roster right now, but we do have some experience,” Longmeier said. “So from that standpoint, early on, I think there could be some growing pains as we kind of figure out what we’re trying to do.”
The Owls lost a trio of seniors from last year’s team with two leading the team in points per game.
Ashton Chase and Makenna Fee both averaged more than 11 points a contest, and Fee led the team in rebounds with 7.7 a game.
Meyer is the top returner in both categories, averaging more than 11 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
Longmeier said they will try to run more ball screens on the wing and try to attack the basket off of that action. During their scrimmage against Brown County on Thursday, Longmeier liked what he saw but expects his girls to do a better job with their decision-making as the season wears on.
He said they’ll need to be more aggressive, at least early on, as his newer, less-experienced players learn and get used to the offense.
Mistakes are bound to happen this early in the season, and last week’s scrimmage was a great chance for Longmeier to get a game on film to break down and critique.
More than anything, he wants his girls to take better care of the basketball this season.
Last year, the Owls averaged just more than 16.5 turnovers per game while only averaging 12.2 assists a contest.
“That’s been a bugaboo for us these last few years,” Longmeier said about turnovers. “We’ve got to do a better job taking care of that.”
He noted rebounding is going to have to be a team effort, as well.
“Rebounding has to be better, too, and I think part of that is we’ve got to be more physical,” he said. “We’re not a very big team, so we’re going to have to out-physical them. Rebounding, turnovers and offensive effectiveness, we’ve just got to be better with our efficiency.”
Still, it all comes back to his four core players having success, Longmeier said. As long as they play well and the rest of the team continues to get better, this could be another good year for the Owls.
“I think we’ve got some really good players, and if we can get a few others to come along with them, we can have a pretty good season,” he concluded.