A look at the Clearwater Indians basketball teams
SCHEDULE
December — 2, Kingman; 9, Winfield; 13, at Collegiate; 16, Andale.
January — 3, Rose Hill; 6, at Wellington; 9, Eureka; 10, Mulvane; 13, at Circle; 18-21, at Chaparral tournament (B); 23-28, at Sedgwick tournament (G); 31, at Augusta.
February — 3, at Winfield; 7, at El Dorado; 10, Collegiate; 14, at Andale; 17, at Rose Hill; 21, Wellington; 23, at Mulvane.
BOYS
Coach: Dustin Clevenger, seventh season, 57-70
Last season: 10-11
Top players
Collin Ellis, 6-1, sr., G
Konner Wells, 6-0, sr., G
Kincaid Liebenberg, 6-8, sr., C
Clearwater thinks its can make its first state tournament appearance since 1981. The Indians have seven seniors, three of whom have played significant minutes since they were sophomores.
“We return a really good group of senior players,” Clevenger said. “Our focus is to take one game and one practice at a time. Although we have a tough schedule in our league, we feel we can put an end to (the state) streak.”
The Indians’ size will present problems for opponents and allow them to create high-percentage shots on offense. Liebenberg will man the middle again after averaging 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds to earn second-team All-AV-CTL II honors.
Clevenger said the Indians have a challenging schedule, playing Andale and defending 4A-II champion Collegiate before the winter break.
“(Collegiate and Andale) will set the tone heading into the Christmas break,” Clevenger said. “That will give us a good prominator of where we are at. In order to be a good team, you have to beat good teams.”
GIRLS
Coach: Dirk Ankerholz, second season, 6-15
Last season: 6-15
Top players
Lexi Cotham, 5-4, sr., G
Alli Klausmeyer, 5-10, sr., F
Tara Lukert, 5-8, sr., G
Clearwater graduated four of their top players from a 6-15 team, but there’s now stability in the program with Ankerholz back for a second season.
“We are changing our attitude about how we change the game,” Ankerholz said. “We’ll be a little bit more up-tempo and more pressure-oriented. I think the girls enjoy that more and have more fun doing it.”
With new players stepping into varsity roles, Ankerholz expects those girls to step up and contribute immediately. Clearwater’s last winning season and state tournament appearance was in 2013.
Along with improving defensively, Clearwater is focused on improving its shooting percentage. Ankerholz and the Indians believe that they can be in closer games if those two things get polished off in practice.
“We do some things well, but one thing we struggle with is making shots,” Ankerholz said. “If we knock down our shots, we can be a competitive team.”
Grant Cohen
This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 9:07 PM with the headline "A look at the Clearwater Indians basketball teams."