Lady Vikes hoping to build on last year’s second-half success

WAUSA — It took some time last year, but once the Wausa Lady Vikings figured out themselves and how new coach Capp Bengston wanted them to play, the girls basketball team started to make some noise.

Wausa ultimately had a .500 second half of a 9-16 campaign and advanced to the semifinals of the SubDistrict, and with four starters back, things could get exciting this winter.

Abby Kaiser, Sienna West, Kilee Thorell and Alexa Cunningham are all back on board, and then with newcomers Olivia Barta and Taylor Dawson thrown into the mix, Bengston should be pretty optimistic this campaign.

“Our strengths this year will be defense and rebounding, as well as our maturity,” Bengston said. “A year ago, we had no seniors to lean on for leadership through adverse situations. This season, we return four starters and several players that played some minutes off the bench for us a year ago. Having that many girls returning is huge for us.

“Our focus over the summer was on becoming an elite defensive team, while also working hard to improve our rebounding numbers.

“The girls have really bought into this because they understand that making shots might come and go on any given night, but defense and rebounding should always be a constant. The great teams defend well and win the rebounding battle.”

The team still has plenty to learn and improve on, including dealing with adversity.

“Part of this is understanding how to win close games, and the other part is figuring out how to stop runs during the game,” Bengston said. “Again, our maturity should help us out with accomplishing these things. The older girls understand that if we limit teams to one shot by pinning out on every possession, it will help avoid any big runs.

“They also understand that attacking the hoop and getting to the free-throw line is a great way to settle things down and stay in the game when momentum is starting to shift.”

The team will aim to pick up a more aggressive personality, and with a thin bench, the team will still be expected to play hard and pressure on defense.

“We want to constantly attack the hoop on offense to keep pressure on our opponent, while also forcing difficult shots on defense,” Bengston said. “If we can do a better job of staying in front of our girl on defense and force a lot of outside shots, we will be much improved on the defensive side of things.

“My expectations are that we control the controllables this season. We are going to have nights that we shoot it really well and nights when our opponents shoot the ball well. We will have nights where we get some calls and nights that we won’t.

“Things that we can control are playing with a tremendous amount of effort and heart, and playing as one. If we know our job, and know that our focus is on defending every possession and rebounding every possession, those things will translate to the results that we want.

“I expect my girls to play hard every night, regardless of who we are playing. I expect us to play passionate, disciplined and with uncommon effort, and if we do those things, we don’t have to worry about wins and losses as those will take care of themselves.”

Kaiser said the girls didn’t come out last year ready to play, but they battled through the adversity and figured out how to be successful.

“We are more confident as a team this year,” she said. “Last year, we focused more on fundamentals, and this year, we have that all down. Now, we are working on moves and situations.”

Kaiser said the team has learned to execute more options from the field and is focusing on attacking the rim.

“We drive more than just shooting threes all the time,” she said.

The Lady Vikings will start the 202223 campaign on Dec. 2 at Plainview.