Garden Plain basketball preview
SCHEDULE
December – 2, Cheney; 6, Hesston; 8-9, at Hesston tournament; 13, at Conway Springs; 17, Bennington (B) at McPherson; Sterling (G) at McPherson.
January – 3, Douglass; 10, Belle Plaine; 13, at Chaparral; 16-21, at Halstead tournament (B); 17, at Trinity Academy (G); 26-28, at Haven tournament (G); 27, at Trinity Academy (B); 31, Independent.
February – 3, at Medicine Lodge; 7, at Cheney; 10, Conway Springs; 14, at Douglass; 21, at Belle Plaine; 23, Chaparral.
BOYS
Coach: Jeff Lantz, first season
Last season: 20-6
Top players
Nate Pauly, sr., G
Cody Hendryx, sr., F
Dylan Gordon, sr., G
Geoffery Weninger, sr., G
Alex Mannebach, jr.; G
Lantz takes over a team that finished fourth in Class 3A last season. Garden Plain finished atop of the Central Plains League a year ago will try to finish atop again this season.
“I’m excited to see what these guys will be able to do on the court,” Lantz said. “They play extremely hard and previous coaches have prepared these guys well.”
The Garden Plain offense will be led by Pauly at the point guard position. Lantz loves Pauly’s ability to bring his leadership from the quarterback position on the football field to the point guard on the basketball court.
The Owls will be a deep team and will have a lot of athleticism on the court. According to Lantz, 13 juniors came out for basketball and four seniors, so youth won’t be a problem.
“I’m very pleased with the numbers we have out,” Lantz said. “These guys have all worked so hard in the offseason, beginning back in July when I met these guys, they’ve put in a lot of work and it’ll be fun to see what these guys can do when the season begins.”
GIRLS
Coach: Kody Kasselman, fourth season, 58-11
Last season: 21-3
Top players
Taylor Joplin, 6-0, jr., F
Paige Hoheisel, 5-8, sr., F
Ryann Flax, 5-7, sr., G
Kasselman has a lot of unanswered questions about his team. The Owls, who qualified for the 3A state tournament last season, will have to replace four starters from a 21-win team. The lone returning starter is Joplin, a threat to score and defend at 6-foot tall. Joplin averaged 12.2 points and 5.5 rebounds in her sophomore season, earning herself first team all-league.
“She can play the post and she can play outside on the perimeter, so it will depend on where she can help us the most,” Kasselman said. “It may be game to game on where she plays, but she’ll be a big threat for us this year.”
The Owls will have a tough stretch of games before the Christmas break.
“You look at the first portion of our schedule and you can see how tough it is,” Kasselman said. “We’ll find out who our team really is at the break. It could be interesting to see where we’re at at that point.”
The Owls will turn to Flax and Hoheisel to bring leadership and experience to a young and inexperienced team. Flax and Hoheisel both averaged 4 points last season. Flax will bring speed and consistency on defense, while Hoheisel will be a threat as a post player.
Sean Boston
This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 9:20 AM with the headline "Garden Plain basketball preview."