Granton girls look to versatility to improve on season win total

Last season, the Granton girls basketball team had one of its best records in recent years, earning two wins during the season. This year, with a few more players, the team is looking to improve that record, trying new strategies to keep the games they play in their favor.

A total of 11 players make up the Bulldog roster this season, with a healthy mix of players from each grade. Since it only lost a couple players to graduation, coach Andrew Radloff said the team was actually able to gain players which will help the team immensely as the season gets underway.

“We have three freshmen and a junior that we didn’t have last year and we only lost two to graduation,” he said. “Now we can scrimmage with the numbers we have here. In past years and with their old coaches they would have to scrimmage with the players just so they could have 10 players. It’s nice to be able to step back and be able to watch and comment on the things they need to know as players.”

With the ability to watch his players, Radloff said he has been able to make some changes already to help the team be able to better compete against their opponents. Since the Bulldogs already have a small roster, he said it is important to be able to take advantage of any skills they can bring to the court, which includes making his players jack-of-all-trades.

“We are working on being able to handle the ball in any situation so no matter where you are on the court you don’t have to worry about your positions,” he said. “It gives you more positions to work with. Now we can have any one of our players bring up the ball to start offense. It allows us to switch it up. The goal is to cycle players through the spots, you don’t just want one player under the post all day. Hopefully we can use this to our playing advantage.”

While the team hopes to make itsopponents struggle with an ever-changing offense, Radloff said scoring is something that needs to be put under control in order for the team to have a chance at wins. Granton doesn’t score very many points compared to some teams in the conference, he said, so they need to work on better defense to combat this weakness.

“We also need to keep scoring low in order for us to have a chance,” he said. “In years past, teams always seem to put up a high number of points against us. We can’t be in the 50s and 60s with points; we need to stay in the 30s and 40s. That will give us more of a chance.”

Thankfully, Radloff said the players are very open to the new strategies, not being afraid to take chances and better improve themselves.

“The positive thing they are not afraid to shoot the ball,” he said. “In the past there were always some players that would be shy about shooting, they didn’t want to miss. These girls are all willing to shoot.”

The Granton team has three seniors this year in Jayden Bymers, Sam Martin and Megan Walter. There are also three juniors: Lizzy Reinart, Abby Woller and Alexis Pongratz. Anna Kayhart is the only sophomore on the team and Ella Piskow, Emma Woller and Ashely Hensiak are the freshmen on the team.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Radloff said he hopes the team will be able to win more than two games this year to beat last year’s record. Beyond that, he said the team is also hoping that wins against the Bulldogs are harder to get.

“In Granton I hope for a bunch of wins, but looking at the conference, we always have top performers that will be at the top,” he said. “We hope to compete in the game and get in control. Last year we had two conference wins so we are hoping to improve on that for this season.”

The Bulldogs have played four games already this season. Their next games are on Dec. 10 against Gilman, on Dec. 16 against Greenwood and on Dec. 21 at Loyal.

CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTO