GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL PREVIEW - Gilman girls’ game plan this season is to get out and run

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL PREVIEW

Gilman High School waited 25 years for a girls basketball team to bring home a WIAA regional championship last February. Now the journey is underway to see if this year’s Pirates can create another exciting finish to the season.

Though many of the faces are the same, the style of basketball is likely to change for Gilman under the direction of seventhyear head coach Tammy Weir.

Blessed with physical inside scoring and rebounding presences like Danielle Mann, Tatum Weir and even back to Grace Grunseth in previous seasons, Gilman doesn’t have that kind of player on this year’s roster. So the hope is to use the strength this year’s team does have, quickness and tenacity, to its advantage.

“We’re going to be fast and we’re going to press and we’re going to run,” Weir said Monday. “We’re not going to sit down in a half-court offense. We’re not going to be happy with that. We’re looking to score within 10-15 seconds and then get right back on defense, steal the ball and come back. The girls have to be in shape, which is why I have to go nine deep because they’re going to need breaks and rest to stay fresh.”

Certainly there will be some wrinkles to iron out with the new approach. The first test came Tuesday and the Pirates passed it with a 45-38 non-conference home win over Edgar. The Pirates are back at it tonight, Thursday, with a non-conference game at Flambeau. They’re at New Auburn Tuesday for a 6 p.m. non-conference game before opening Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play Dec. 3 at Owen-Withee, the team that ended Gilman’s season last year in the WIAA Division 5 sectional semifinal.

The Pirates return five players who logged major minutes for last year’s team, which finished 12-16 overall and 4-10 in the Eastern Cloverbelt. Gilman beat Lake Holcombe, top-seeded South Shore and Hurley in the WIAA tournament before losing 40-30 to Owen-Withee.

Seniors Kayleigh James and Claire Drier are the captains and Weir is obviously counting on them to carry much of the leadership load. James ranked second on the team behind Mann in 3-point shots made last year with 16 and averaged 5.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Drier averaged 5.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 steals.

The Pirates are looking for juniors Allie Olynick and Aubrey Steinbach and sophomore Addison Vick to step up a notch after their solid years a year ago and sophomore Raygen Soper, who got some spot duty with the varsity should see dramatically more time this year as a point guard and strong perimeter defender.

Olynick averaged 6.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per outing last year. Weir said Steinbach looks improved after putting in the off-season. She gave Gilman 2.4 points per outing last year. Vick contributed 2.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in some quality minutes last year as a freshman.

Increased scoring will have to come from everyone to help make up for Mann’s nearly 20 points per game that she gave the Pirates last year.

“I’m really looking forward to it because I’m really curious to see who is going to step up,” Weir said. “I’m hoping that all five who are stepping out on the court are stepping up and that the scoring just comes from every angle. We don’t have that one person that teams have to double or triple team.”

Weir has targeted three members of a talented freshman group to start the year with the varsity. They are point guard Reece Weir, Averie Olynick and Norah Noonan.

While she will get some JV time early to strengthen some areas of her game, coach Weir said Reece Weir is on track to be the program’s point guard of the future.

Also earning spots on this year’s varsity roster are seniors Paige Daley and Patty Kloss and junior guard Scarlett Stuner, who was on the team as a freshman and returns after a year away. Also new to the program this year is assistant coach Christi Wisner, a Gilman native who has returned to the area after living in Bloomer. She has volleyball and softball coaching experience. This will be her first basketball coaching experience. In all, there are 16 girls in the program with sophomore Rilla Syryczuk and freshmen Shae Drier, Brynn Komanec and Olivya Szemraj filling out the JV roster. As for the change in the varsity’s approach, Tammy Weir said it’s something she’s been studying and researching ever since last year ended, knowing the team was going to be lacking size. “This is all new to me, but it’s been something I’ve been studying for probably the last nine months just because I knew,” she said. “We had Tatum two years ago and Danielle last year, but now we just don’t have a big. So we have to change our game plan. I think we’re going to surprise some teams, we’re going to surprise some people and I think the girls might even surprise themselves.”

Weir said the girls did seem to pick things up pretty quickly in the first week of practice.

“I expect very high things from these girls,” Weir said. “When I brought in this offense on (Nov. 11), I thought they’re either going to catch on to it, or it’s going to take some time. I did a scrimmage just the JV versus the varsity on Friday and they were catching on it to it really good.

“If they do what we have planned, it’s going to be good. I told them if you get down at the beginning of a game, you cannot get discouraged because it’s one of those things where we’re just going to wear the other team out.”

With that in mind, Weir is hoping to set a solid rotation of up to nine girls. In some years, she’s only had a seven-player rotation, so a more frequent substitution pattern is something even she will have to get used to. While reducing turnovers has been a team focus the past several years, Weir said those are going to happen, especially early in the year, and the Pirates are going to have to work through it.

“I told the girls we are going to have turnovers because we’re going to a completely different style of game,” Weir said. “We want to be run and gun and we’re going to have turnovers. We’re going to have mistakes. In the long run, when we come up against a team that’s big and slower, we’re going to beat them because they’re going to be tired by the end of the game.

“This is going to be new for me going nine deep,” she added. “I’m not sure how it will all play out. But I told them you’re going to bust your butt. After three minutes, you’re going to be exhausted and there’s going to be someone coming in for you. I’ll put you back out. You just need to work hard when you’re out there.”

In the Eastern Cloverbelt, Neillsville once again went undefeated to win last year’s title and the Warriors are a favorite again as they bring back a couple of allconference players in senior Sydney Subke and sophomore Madi Davel. Owen-Withee brings back all but one key player from their Division 5 sectional final team of a year ago. The Blackhawks were 20-8 last year. Led by All-ECC senior Tysen Lindner, Greenwood looks to build off its surprising 10-4 season in league play. Loyal and Columbus Catholic figure to be solid as well, though Columbus will be young and is breaking in a new head coach.

“I leave the gym open for 45 minutes after practice for any kid who wants to stay and shoot and I had a gym full of players all last week,” Weir said. “They were shooting, they were working on different things. If these girls keep putting in that kind of effort again, they’ll be successful.

“I’m looking forward to the season. It should be fun.”