A look at the Rose Hill Rockets basketball teams
Schedule
December – 2, at Augusta; 6, Chanute; 9, at Hesston; 10, Garden Plain (at Hesston); 13, Mulvane; 16, at Wellington.
January – 3, at Clearwater; 6, Collegiate; 10, at Andale; 16-21, at Halstead tournament (B); 17, Andover Central (G); 24, Andover Central (B); 26-28, at Haven tournament (G); 31, at El Dorado.
February – 7, Winfield; 10, at Mulvane; 14, Wellington; 17, Clearwater; 21, at Collegiate; 23, Andale.
Boys
Coach: Joshua Shirley, second season, 8-15
Last season: 8-15
Top players
Grant Moore, 6-3, sr., G
Griffin McBride, 5-10, sr., G
Hunter Forsberg, 6-1, sr., F
Cole Knight, 6-4, jr., F
Dylan Sapp, 6-3, jr., F
A year after making a coaching change and installing a new system, the progress is already starting to show at Rose Hill.
“As a coaching staff, we were looking at our practice plans from last year to this year, and it’s obvious we’re so much farther along this year,” Shirley said. “It’s taken some time to transition away from what had been done in the past, but our players have bought into the system.”
Three seniors, Moore, McBride and Forsberg, have embraced the change and will bear the brunt of the expectations early as the only returners with significant experience.
But once the rest of the team picks up playing time, the Rockets hope to establish a healthy presence at the post. A strength for the team will be the height across the roster, where Rose Hill boasts at least four players 6-foot-3 or taller. That should help achieve Shirley’s goals of an improved rebounding effort and building on last year’s defensive intensity.
“Last year we needed to rebound better, and we can do that,” Shirley said. “ And we really want to emphasize defense. We were third in our league in defensive points allowed last year, and that’s good in our league.”
Forsberg, at 6-foot-1, isn’t the tallest forward on the team but is still a primary offensive threat with a reliable shot. McBride will lead the team’s backcourt after averaging more than 10 points during last year’s sub-state title run.
Girls
Coach: Greg Welch, second season, 13-9
Last season: 13-9
Top players
Kayna Simoneau, 5-8, sr., G
Mackenzie Herman, 5-8, jr., G
Anna Van Driel, 5-10, sr., F
Kyle Woods, 6-1, sr., F
Hahlee Mundy, 5-7, sr., G
Officially it’s a new season for the Rose Hill girls basketball team. But it’s hardly a new start.
“I’d say a continuation is a good way to put it,” second-year coach Greg Welch said. “We’ve got 95 percent of our points and our minutes coming back. We only graduated two seniors off last year’s team.”
Four starters return and a full bench’s worth of support. That means preseason practices have moved along quite well for a roster with 11 returners, including four who earned all-state honorable mentions last season.
“We’re a little further ahead now. Last year was my first year,” Welch said. “So this year we don’t have to explain as much and teach everything new.”
Simoneau, Van Driel and Woods all return as starting seniors with high expectations for the new season. Herman started as a sophomore last year and will join the three seniors with plans to claim a league championship and compete for a state title.
Welch said Woods has orally committed to play basketball at Johnson County Community College next season, and Van Driel will compete at Kansas as a rower.
“You don’t want to put a limit on what these girls can do,” Welch said. “There’s no game on our schedule we shouldn’t have a chance to win.”
Billy Byler
This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 3:35 PM with the headline "A look at the Rose Hill Rockets basketball teams."