Trinity Lutheran’s Laura Roeder makes a move, last season against Brownstown Central
Tribune File Photo
Darrin Keith has high expectations for the Trinity Lutheran girls basketball team this winter.
“Our goal for the winter is to be just as good as we have been in the past,” he said prior to a practice recently in the Bollinger Athletic Complex. “We’re going to continue with what Mike (Lang) has built here and keep going.”
The Cougars will open their season at home tonight against Brownstown Central with the junior varsity game set to start at 6 p.m.
Keith was an assistant coach under Lang the past two seasons and helped the Cougars go 22-7 last winter and advance to the southern Class A semistate.
The coaches are working with four returning starters, senior Liza Froedge and juniors Madison Keith, Jordan Brewer and Laura Roeder.
Keith averaged 11.7, Froedge 10.5, Brewer 9.3 and Roeder 4.3 points per game last winter.
Bailey Tabeling, Trinity’s all-time scoring leader, graduated and is playing basketball at Ohio University.
“Nobody is going to replace Bailey, 22.1 points per game, so we’re going to have to do it by committee,” coach Keith said. “The five or six kids that are playing in her place are going to have to pick up three or four or five points a game. That’s how we’re planning on replacing the 22 points a game.”
He said Froedge will have free range to shoot from the outside.
“Liza has been a good shot. That’s what she’s known for is shooting. Laura is a capable outside shooter. Madison can shoot, and Jordan is a really good outside shooter. Her shot has been looking good lately. Marley (Warren) will step in, and she is a good outside perimeter player also,” he said.
Besides Froedge, other seniors are Morgan Brewer and Dianna Munoz.
“I’m hoping they become good leaders with their attitude,” Keith said. “We have a lot of young kids that we’re not used to having. We’ve got a big freshman class.”
There are seven freshmen on the roster.
Keith said he expects his daughter to battle on the boards.
“I’m expecting ferocious, big-time play (inside),” he said. “Madison likes the physical part of it. Sometimes, she plays out of position, but that’s good because she’s quicker than the person guarding her. She likes being physical.
“Liza is a capable rebounder, and we just have to rebound by committee,” he said. “Everybody has to go and block out and do their thing.”
Sophomore Bailey Bonde is the tallest player on the team, and coach Keith said, “I expect some big minutes out of her. She has been in the gym and she has really looked good this fall.”
Keith said when the Cougars are in their half-court offense, “We’ve got to keep the floor spaced so we can shoot because we’re going to be undersized every time we take the floor. We’ve got to keep the ball moving. We’ve got to keep it uptempo.”
He said he likes both half-court and full-court defenses.
“In the half-court set, I like to play man. I like to put some pressure on the ball, maybe not full-court but three-quarter court,” he said. “We’re going to work on trapping. We’ll try to keep the ball out of the other team’s best ball handlers. We’ll fall back into a matchup man-to-man. We want to put pressure on the guards so they can’t get comfortable.”
He expects the transition game to be key for the Cougars.
“With our quickness, we should get out and shoot a lot of layups,” he said.
The coach said the girls have shown positive attitudes in practices.
“Just the attitudes that we’ve shown in here and the fight (have been good),” he said.
Keith said he feels like he has a lot of depth because the junior varsity pushes the varsity in practice.
“Skill level, it’s not the game, but speed and strength are comparable,” he said.
He said he would like to play eight or nine kids in varsity games.