By Chris Parker
Greenfield girls basketball will have a new look coming off a 21-win, district championship season. The Wildcats graduated all five starters from last season’s team.
“This season will be a year of rebuilding,” Greenfield head coach Loganne Hickman said. “We lost five starters, who led in all statistical categories, and we will need to have kids step up and into new roles quickly. Our team will be made up of one senior, who will not be medically cleared until late December, one junior, two sophomores and seven freshmen. We are going to be very young, and I expect some growing pains with that. How we handle adversity and the pace change of the high school game will translate to how much success we find this year. I do find a lot of positives with the kids we are bringing in. They are excited for the season, and they have acknowledged the need for leadership. The expectation remains the same. The team will need to embrace being all in. We will hit highs and lows this season and how we navigate those waters together will result and reflect our ultimate successes regardless of our win-loss record.”
Megan Lundy (senior), Brooke Richards (junior), Alyssa Dejager (sophomore) and Reyanah Chandler (sophomore) are the returning players with varsity games played.
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Hickman on Lundy: “Megan did an extremely great job last year coming off the bench and giving us physicality and spark. Megan works her tail off in whatever she participates in and that is something very special to have in a teammate. She is consistent, the hardest working and hard-nosed kid we will have. Megan is recovering from knee surgery and will not be fully released until late December.”
Hickman on Richards: “Brooke causes some defensive chaos while on the floor. She is long and quick and will fill whatever role we ask of her.”
Hickman on Dejager: “Alyssa did a good job for us coming in off the bench last season. She has a nice outside shot. This summer she built confidence in her scoring ability and showcased a great free throw shooting percentage. I look for her to continue gaining confidence and becoming a more physical asset to the game to coincide with her outside scoring ability. She will be a mismatch player for us. She can handle the ball, but her size will allow her to play inside as well.”
Hickman on Chandler: “Reyanah did a nice job of adapting to our system last season as a freshman. Reyanah is an aggressive guard who is determined to improve her game. I see her being an asset in the guard role for us this season.”
Cailey Boyd, Karlee Johnson, Chloe Jones, Gracie Chandler and Hannah Hughes are all freshmen looking to make an immediate impact.
“This freshman group coming in has proven to be extremely hard workers,” Hickman said. “I have had them for the last two years in junior high and they are consistent and work hard. They participate in several other groups/sports for our school. They’re a really involved crew. There are several roles open on our team due to our massive graduation last year, so I look for a few of these kids to get big minutes and experience early in the high school careers.”
This new group of players will look to keep the standard of excellence going for Greenfield.
“Our biggest strength is motivation. The bar has been set high the last few years for Greenfield girls basketball, and I see this team being motivated to settle for nothing less than their best,” Hickman said. “We will need to improve our all-around game. The team lost five starters last year and those starters led in all statistical categories. We need kids to step up quickly into roles they haven’t had to play thus far in their careers. We will be seeking leadership early.”
Greenfield opens the regular season on Nov. 21 at Walnut Grove.
“I will consider this season successful if the group bands together and approaches the game with a team-first mentality on improving,” Hickman said. “We are looking for kids to embrace the hard that is bound to come and we are looking for them to do this by banding together and going at each game with a team mentality.”
