RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL PREVIEW - With hard work, Rib Lake expects to be competitive in the North

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL PREVIEW

Bringing back possibly the most experienced girls basketball team in the Marawood North Conference, 2024-25 could be a season of opportunity for the Rib Lake Redmen.

Coming off a season where the Redmen bumped their win total from three to nine, an argument could be made that momentum is also on Rib Lake’s side as the new season begins.

Also, for the first time since 2020-21, Rib Lake isn’t breaking in a new head coach, finally creating some consistency for the players, both in and out of season.

Now, according to second-year head coach Austin Edwards, it’s up to the Redmen to put all of these positive aspects into action.

“Our results are going to be based on how hard we work,” Edwards said a few days before the team began practicing Nov. 11. “We’re not going to assume victory, but we are going to have an attitude that every time we step out on the floor we expect to win that game. Again, that is something built on hard work and winning habits. I preach that to the players all of the time. We’re not going to win many games unless we have winning habits. That starts with fundamentals, it starts with good attitudes, execution, all of those things. We’re looking for all of those things to be better this year. And if they are better, we do expect to compete this year in the Marawood Conference.”

Featuring the same core group that leads Rib Lake in volleyball and softball, the Redmen are a junior-dominated team, but most of those juniors already have a year, if not two, of varsity basketball experience. The three seniors also have been playing varsity ball for some time. That growth and maturity has started to show up with winning records in the other sports. The goal is to bring winning back to basketball as well over the next three-plus months.

The season started Tuesday with a high-scoring 68-66 home loss to Columbus Catholic. Rib Lake now dribbles right into Marawood North play by hosting Chequamegon tonight, Thursday, and Athens Tuesday in 7:15 p.m. tip times.

Since the 9-16 campaign of 2023-24 ended with a tough WIAA Division 5 regional loss at Three Lakes, Edwards said these multi-sport girls found time to squeeze in a lot of basketball work this offseason, no doubt helped by finally having a coach in place all summer. There is a coaching change at the JV level where Jon Dallmann, who has coached at lower levels for several seasons, takes over for Gracie Weinke.

“We had a really good off-season,” Edwards said. “Obviously I can only use six contact days, but I know they were going into the gym multiple days a week. We got a shooting machine called The Gun. They were in there four days a week usually shooting on that, just trying to get better at shooting. I know they worked on their fundamentals. They went to a couple of camps as a team, did some things like that so they could be better.” At the varsity level, Rib Lake brings back seniors Addison Gumz, Madison Grzanna and Kiana Dallmann as well as juniors Tahlia Scheithauer, Madilyn Blomberg, Emma Tlusty, Avery Niemi, Isabelle Gumz and Tessa Weik. Weik and Addison Gumz were All-North honorable mention selections last year, while Scheithauer was Rib Lake’s representative on the All North Defensive Team. In all, about 20 players were expected to come out, creating full varsity and JV rosters and there may be some competition for an additional varsity spot. The one senior lost to graduation was a key one, All-North second-teamer Josie Scheithauer.

“You don’t want to lose somebody that was a four-year varsity player and lose that experience,” Edwards said. “However, this is where having a new coach every year becomes an advantage for the girls who are back this year. Now they get to experience something that Josie never did and that’s having the same system. They don’t have to learn a new system. So I expect to pick up where we left off last year in terms of schematics and just the way that we do things.”

Offensively, Rib Lake upped its average last year to 45.6 points per game and finished the year with a point differential of just minus-17 over 25 games, a vast improvement over the previous handful of years. They did that despite still struggling with turnovers and less-than-desirable shooting percentages. Fixing those issues remains a focus.

“Teams picked us apart last year on the press, which I don’t think will be the case this year,” Edwards said. “Shot-making was an issue last year, whether it was close in with layups, whether it would be midrange, 3-pointers or free throws. So we made it a point over the summer that we need to work on our shots. We fixed our form. I went back to the days when I was in high school and had success as a 3point shooter. We used some of those same drills to incorporate into what are girls are doing. We altered a lot of shot forms. Then those girls just shot and shot and shot.”

It’s not that Rib Lake wants to become a 3-point shooting juggernaut overnight. What the Redmen want is to make those layups, those free throws, those shots in the paint and those open mid-range jumpers that can add up quickly.

“We have one of the strongest post players in the conference in Tessa Weik and she’s also one of the best passers in the conference,” Edwards said. “We can look inside a lot and have easy answers down there. On the other side of the floor, we have a returning All-Defensive player in Tahlia Scheithauer. Getting steals is something she does well. She usually locks down the other team’s number-one offensive player. So getting steals and getting her out in transition for easy layups will be big. Emma Tlusty is another really good defender as somebody that traps.”

Edwards said also since last season, Addison Gumz has improved her outside shooting as has Blomberg. Niemi will switch from more of an inside player to a guard.

“Maddie’s role is going to increase this year,” he said. “She’s like a jack of all trades. She’s the girl that does the dirty work. She’s always willing to box out. Her role is going to expand. Her shot has gotten a lot better. We’ve adjusted her shot form. I’m excited. I could say a million things about all of our girls.”

Defense remains Edwards’ top emphasis. What type of defense the team uses will depend on the opponent, but he wants his team to be ready to play anything, whether it’s man-to-man or zone-based. He also feels this team is deeper than last year and should be more suited to apply full-court pressure for longer periods of time.

Getting defensive rebounds, creating turnovers and making the ensuing layups would be big for this team.

“When you win the turnover battle, you usually win basketball games,” Edwards said. We did in a lot of games last year. We were hanging with some of the best defensive teams in the conference like Phillips and Athens. The turnover battle was closer than people would think if you looked at the score. We lost by 30 points to both of those teams. But the turnover battle was pretty close. It just came down to transition points, transition scoring and offensive rebounding. Those are all big things for us that we have to eliminate. We can’t let teams get second chances on defense. We have to be the team that’s getting rebounds, pushing the ball up the floor.”

Thirteen of the Marawood North’s 22 first-team, second-team and honorable mention players from a year ago graduated leading a wide-open, uncertain feeling as to how this year’s title chase will turn out. But, Edwards said, there’s still good coaches, good programs and nothing will be handed to Rib Lake just because it has an improving, experienced club. Phillips seeks its sixth straight conference title under head coach Mike Eggebrecht and brings back a Player of the Year candidate in Mataya Eckert. Prentice’s Kali Heikkinen will be in the league MVP conversation too.

“We’re not going to be a team that’s underestimated this year,” Edwards said. “I think there are a lot of teams that are going to respect the players we put out on the floor this year. I’m excited to see the response we get from our team and our girls and how they respond to that kind of change, going from a team that was not expected to be very good and underestimated to now being a team that is going to be the favorite in most of the games that we play this year. It’s definitely an exciting change but it doesn’t change the mindset that we have. It’s all the more reason to put the emphasis on the details and emphasis on the execution, emphasis on the winning habits.”