By Chris Parker
Fordland girls basketball tripled its win total last year going from four wins in 2020-21 to 12 wins last season.
The Eagles will look to improve on that win total with everybody back from last season’s team.
“We have everyone back from last season. We have matured into a team with experience. We went from three wins the season before to 12 wins last season,” said Fordland head coach Kevin McDaris. “The girls worked really hard this summer and I think we have improved and are ready to take the next step. If we can become more consistent on the offensive side and continue to improve on defense, I think we can compete with just about anyone we have on our schedule. I am really looking forward to what these girls can accomplish this season.”
Junior Emma Trotter, sophomore McKenzie Haskins and senior Mikah Suter will be the team’s leaders.
Trotter earned first-team all-conference honors as a sophomore after she averaged 12.6 points per game along with 4.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
“She (Trotter) has been our leading scorer the past two seasons,” McDaris said. “She is quick and good at attacking the basket. She has become a better passer this summer and is getting everyone involved in the offense.”
Haskins was named honorable mention all-conference as a freshman. She was one of two freshmen to earn All-Summit Conference honors. Her 8.5 ppg were second on the team while her 2.1 steals per game tied for the team lead.
“She is our best outside shooter,” McDaris said. “She was second in scoring last year as a freshman. She has improved her overall game this summer and became a more consistent scoring threat.”
Suter led the team in rebounding at 5.9 rpg while scoring 5.3 ppg as a junior.
“She is a good rebounder, can score in the post, and is a good passer,” McDaris said. “She also can help with ball handling. She is our leader both on the court and off the court.”
Shelby Thomason (junior), MacKenzie Suter (senior), Katlyn Fries (senior), Lily Kindall (sophomore) and Lexus Friesn (junior) also return for Fordland.
McDaris on Thomason: “She is our primary post player. She can score, rebound and plays good post defense.”
McDaris on Suter: “She gave us some size and strength off the bench last season. We expect her to continue to improve this season.”
McDaris on Fries: “She is a quick guard who has improved on her ball handling and shooting this summer.”
McDaris on Kindall: “Very quick and athletic. She worked hard at her ball handling skills this summer and we expect her to contribute more scoring this year.”
McDaris on Friesn: “She is a strong and athletic forward who is a good rebounder and plays hard.”
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Freshman Loren Bojko and junior Riley Rippee will be newcomers to the varsity lineup.
McDaris on Bojko: “She is a very athletic, tall guard who can play inside or out. We expect her to contribute right away.”
McDaris on Rippee: “Athletic and long. She got some minutes on the varsity last year, and we expect her to play a bigger role this season.”
Experience not be something Fordland is short on this season.
“I think the entire group made progress this summer. We have everyone back from last season and we seemed to figure it out this summer,” McDaris said. “We have been young the last couple of seasons and that experience seems to finally be showing. Also, we improved our overall team scoring this summer. We have struggled to be consistent on the offensive side the last couple of seasons. This summer we were more consistent at scoring the basketball.”
Fordland opens the season on Nov. 22 at Galena.
