A look at the Valley Center Hornets basketball teams
SCHEDULE
December – 2, Eisenhower; 6-10, at Cheney tournament (B and G); 13, at Newton; 16, at Andover.
January – 3, Arkansas City; 10, at Andover Central; 13, at Goddard; 17, Hutchinson (G); 19-21, Valley Center tournament (B); 26-28, at McPherson tournament (G); 27, Hutchinson (B); 31, Maize South.
February – 3, at Eisenhower; 9, at Cheney; 10, Andover Central; 14, at Arkansas City; 17, Andover; 21, Goddard; 23, at Maize South.
BOYS
Coach: Ty Unrau, second season
Last season: 7-14
Top players
Tyler Brown, 5-11, jr., G
Thayer Terwilliger, 5-8, sr., G
Wyatt Lange, 5-11, jr., G
Kadin Pearson, 5-10, jr., G
Unrau didn’t mind waiting on several of his basketball players who were involved in Valley Center’s recent run to the Class 5A football quarterfinals. They will play key roles for the Hornets this winter.
“We’re still getting to know our team a little bit, but I’m just so excited for what they were accomplishing,” Unrau said.
Brown is the most intriguing. After averaging 25.2 points last season as a shooting guard, he will move to the point to replace his older brother, Nathan. Whatever position Brown occupies, Unrau is expecting the Hornets to face an array of defenses to try to slow him.
“He’s so explosive and deadly from outside, but he can also attack and get to the foul line,” Unrau said. “He’s going to get a lot of attention, and we’re going to try to surround him with shooters who can space the floor.”
With other spot-up shooters like Lange, Valley Center had few problems scoring last season. But rebounding and defense were issues. Help could possibly come from Keyon Saunders, a 6-foot-2 senior who missed last season because of injuries, and Joe Petrakis, a 6-6 transfer from Independent.
“We’re your typical mid-major team, a little undersized,” Unrau said. “So we’ll have to outdiscipline opponents and shoot the ball really well.”
GIRLS
Coach: Trent Preheim, second season
Last season: 14-7
Top players
Taylor Latimer, 5-9, sr., F
Bethany Reeves, 5-6, sr., G-F
Madison Runnion, 5-10, sr., F
Emily Klusener, 5-10, sr., C
Valley Center posted its best record in 11 years in its first season under Preheim. The follow-up will be determined without the top two scorers from that team, Kyli Webber and Kennedy Weaver.
“That’s going to be the trick,” Preheim said. “How do we find those points and the leadership that they gave us?
“As this team goes along, I think they’ll get better and better at taking that on.”
Latimer averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds and was named to the AV-CTL II’s all-league second team. She and Klusener, a part-time starter last season, will help the Hornets near the basket.
“I’m looking for Taylor to have a big year,” Preheim said. “She’s such a hard matchup for teams and we need to take advantage of that.”
Reeves provides additional experience and athleticism, while sophomore Zayda Perez could fill the void left by Weaver at point guard.
“I think we’ll be a little bit different and we’ll have to do different things now that we don’t have Kyli out there,” Preheim said. “But we were able to lay a good foundation last year, and we have a good mix of girls in our school right now who just love to compete.”
Scott Paske
This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 4:04 PM with the headline "A look at the Valley Center Hornets basketball teams."