High school basketball preview: Garden Plain Owls (+video)
Schedule
December – 4, at Medicine Lodge; 8-12, Garden Plain tournament; 17, Chaparral.
January – 5, Cheney; 8, at Bluestem; 12, Trinity Academy; 15, Medicine Lodge; 18-23, at Halstead tournament (B); 19, at Conway Springs (G); 25-30, at Mulvane tournament (G); 29, at Conway Springs (B).
February – 2, at Cheney; 5, Conway Springs; 9, at Independent; 12, Bluestem; 16, Douglass; 19, at Chaparral; 23, Belle Plaine.
Boys
Coach: Lee Gillen, second season, 13-10
Last season: 13-10
Top players
Alex Becker, 6-3, sr., F-C
Zach May, 5-11, sr., G-F
Nate Pauly, 5-8, jr., G
From points to leadership to anything else Garden Plain needs, Gillen expects his trio of returning starters to be the source, particularly early in the season.
“They’ve got good experience,” Gillen said. “They’ve played a lot of minutes. Those three are who we have to build around.”
Pauly, a point guard, was selected All-Central Plains League second team a year ago. Becker and May started the majority of games as the Owls fell one victory short of the Class 3A tournament.
“Nate kind of drives the engine,” Gillen said. “I’m not going to say we went the way he went, but there were times he guided us and made us go.”
In Garden Plain’s victories last season, opponents averaged 37.3 points. When the Owls lost, they were limited to 34.5.
“We did struggle to score at times,” Gillen said. “Our style was based more on what we thought we had in terms of personnel.
“When we executed in the half court and kept people from running, we played pretty well.”
Garden Plain likely will mix and match early on until Gillen finds the right combination to accompany the Owls’ nucleus. He would like to use more pressure defense to create easier scoring opportunities.
Regardless, Garden Plain’s development should be aided by familiarity with its coach that it lacked heading into last season.
“I don’t think they really knew what to expect,” Gillen said. “They do now. They know what I’m after and I know what they’re capable of.”
Girls
Coach: Kody Kasselman, third season, 37-8
Last season: 21-2
Top players
Lauren Costello, 5-8, sr., F
Daylynn Doyle, 5-7, sr., G
Taylor Joplin, 6-0, so., F
Madison Schmelzer, 5-6, sr., G
Kenzie Thimesch, 5-7, sr., F
An overtime loss in a sub-state final aligns with the cruelest of fates. But don’t expect the end of Garden Plain’s 2014-15 basketball season to provide a rallying cry for the Owls this winter.
“This senior class doesn’t need much incentive to play hard and work hard,” Kasselman said. “They do a great job. I don’t think motivation is going to be an issue.”
If anything, momentum should be plentiful after Garden Plain won the Class 3A volleyball title in October. Two players from that team, Schmelzer and Doyle, give the Owls one of the area’s most experienced backcourt tandems.
Schmelzer averaged 10.6 points and 2.7 steals as a junior. Doyle averaged 6.6 points and 4.5 rebounds, and is one of the Owls’ top defenders.
“The growth those two have made over the last three years is pretty amazing,” Kasselman said. “They bring a calm to the floor. I don’t worry about it when the ball is in their hands.”
Thimesch gives Garden Plain a third returning starter as the Owls move on after graduating all-state performer Noelle Dooley. Joplin earned a few starts as a freshman when Schmelzer was injured. With Costello, 5-foot-8 junior Paige Hoheisel and 5-7 junior Ryann Flax, the Owls have a group with similar height that provides Kasselman with multiple options for attacking opponents.
“I think we’ll have more people who can play a role for us,” Kasselman said. “Last year, we were about 6½ deep. I think we have a chance to be a solid 8 or 9 or even 10 deep.”
Scott Paske
This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 3:38 PM with the headline "High school basketball preview: Garden Plain Owls (+video)."