Wildcats 3-0 early in this season

Coach looks for steady play this year

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Edgar girls’ basketball team is bringing back a solid group of varsity players from last year’s regional championship team. Coming off their third straight regional title, the Wildcats are hoping to have another opportunity to finally get past a sectional semifinal game that has marked the end of the past three seasons.

With several key returning players, they seem positioned to make another run towards that lofty goal. But what will finally push this Edgar team over the hump? According to third-year head coach Tom McCarty, it all comes down to consistency.

“We have finished outside the top two because we have dropped a game here or there that we just weren’t ready for,” he elaborated. “Our conference is really tough. WisSports put out a preseason top 10 and five Marawood teams were listed somewhere between Division 4 and 5. The schedule is brutal and the team that wins the conference title is the most consistent team. Something this team has to figure out is how to show up every single night with the same energy and enthusiasm.”

If the team can do so, they certainly have the talent to push for the top of the Marawood-South title and make a play for another deep playoff run. They will be returning their top two scorers, forward Reagan Borchardt and guard Leah Davis, as well as Makayla Wirkus, who was fourth on the team in points per game and second in rebounds last season, and Morgan Schnelle, who started for last year’s team. They will also have a good number of seniors and juniors with varsity experience, including seniors Olysta Baumann and Amber Skrzypchak and junior Taylor Lemmer.

In addition to the upperclassmen, the Wildcats will be bringing in a couple new faces to the varsity squad to complement their senior-heavy lineup. Juniors Maycie Yonker and Brooke Imhoff were mentioned by McCarty as potential contributors.

Experience will certainly be an asset of this Edgar squad, though navigating an injury to Wirkus is something the team will have to overcome early in the season.

“Reagan, Morgan, Leah, Makayla all have starting histories, but Makayla has yet to play as she continues to recover from injury,” McCarty said of his starting lineup. “Taylor started one game now this year already and will move in and out of the starting line up. She will be asked to handle the ball and help control the pace of play for our program.”

Despite missing Wirkus, the start of the 2022-23 season has looked promising, with the girls coming away with victories in their first three contests. Double digit victories over Marawood-South rivals Newman Catholic and Marathon and a 5144 win over Gilman has the Wildcats sitting at 3-0 and tied for the top of the conference. They’ve scored over 50 points in each game while holding their opponents below that mark.

Their win over Marathon is the main difference between this year’s start and last’s, with Edgar starting off the year with wins over Gilman and Newman Catholic but falling to the Red Raiders in a close 55-54 game.

Their toughest early season challenge will likely come in the form of the team that bounced them from the playoffs last season. After traveling to Rib Lake, Edgar will make the trip to Assumption to try to avenge their sectional semifinal loss and further establish themselves at the top of the Marawood-South.

They won’t be walking into the game without having learned some lessons from the last time they faced off against the Royals. The loss, while tough to swallow, was a close contest and, outside of a small stretch in the second half, the Wildcats were highly competitive.

“I thought we played pretty well in that sectional game with the exception of the first three minutes of the second half,” McCarty said. “I think we learned that we are really close to winning those games and if we can develop habits of consistency and value each possession that we can play with anyone in the state.”

If their first three games are anything to go by, it certainly seems that they have found at least some of that consistency. Maintaining it over the course of the season and into the playoffs is the key.