Lady Vikes will put a young team on the floor this season

WAUSA — It’s a new coaching staff that’s in charge of the Wausa Lady Vikings as they enter a new season this week.

Wausa (6-18 in 2020-21) lost to Osmond in the SubDistrict opener and Capp Bengston has been trusted to take the Lady Vikes to the next level.

Bengston could only watch from the opposite sideline as he assisted the boys program last year.

“I’ve watched a lot of game film from last year during this offseason,” Bengston said. “My biggest takeaway from a year ago was the girls lost eight games by single digits, so those games probably could’ve gone either way. Some of the reasons that we were unable to finish those out was because we started three sophomores a year ago and also played several sophomores off the bench.”

Young players bring a lot of enthusiasm, but also make a lot of mistakes, he said.

“When you play a number of young players like that, they typically aren’t mentally tough enough to handle those close game situations. So, we had a large group of young players that played big minutes and a group of seniors that were trying to lead those younger players that maybe just weren’t quite ready to play at the varsity level yet but were thrown into the fire.”

Now with better chemistry in place, the expectations are higher for a stronger showing this winter.

“I think one of our strengths coming into this year is our depth,” Bengston said. “There are a lot of girls on this team that can go into the game for us and execute their job or their role at a high level. Another strength of ours is that we had a lot of the juniors play varsity last year, so they’re a little more seasoned than they were a year ago at this time.”

A lot of Wausa athletes gained some good varsity experience last year, he said.

“That experience from their sophomore year should go a long way for us this coming season. One weakness of ours could be that we don’t have any seniors out this year. While I don’t think that it will be too big of a weakness for us, it can be tough for underclassmen to take on that leadership role and step up in big moments when the game is on the line.”

Alexa Cunningham, Blair Wakeley and Abby Kaiser all return after putting in major minutes a season ago.

“Alexa started for us at post a year ago and has great length and is a big presence in the paint for us and has added some strength through summer lifting this offseason that will go a long way for her this year,” Bengston said.

The Lady Vikes will feature a pair of experienced guards, too, Bengston said.

“Blair and Abby both started at guard for us a year ago. They have very similar skill sets when it comes to shooting and handling the ball,” he said. “I would say these two girls have made the biggest jump in the offseason with their decision making on the court. With how much we rely on these two to handle the ball, it is crucial for them to make smart decisions both in the offense and in transition.”

The coach said the work ethic and determination the three vets possess could make a big difference.

“These three and a few others have really taken ownership this offseason for their own work ethic and have pushed others to reach that same standard,” Bengston said.

Sophomore Sienna West should take up some big minutes after showing flashes of stepping up a year ago.

“Sienna has a very unique skill set for us as she can play both inside and outside,” Bengston said. “She handles the ball very well but has the strength and footwork to be a great post player too. I think the coaches and her teammates are excited to see what she can do for us with a more expanded role this season.”

With other newcomers expected to make a jump in play, the hopes are high this year.

“I hope to build a solid foundation for the type of program that we want to be for years to come, and I think I have a great group of girls that are willing to buy in and make that happen,” Bengston said. “The good thing about our team is they will all be here this year and the next which gives me and the girls a great chance to get on the same page and get this thing headed in the right direction. I also hope that by the time our first game rolls around our girls have built a confidence level and level of trust with me and each other so they can go out there and know exactly what is expected of them.”

That all starts with sticking with Bengston’s game plan.

“If we can be the more disciplined team each game and outwork our opponents, then we will have chances to win our fair share of games,” he said.

Cunningham said the girls got together a lot during the offseason to work on their shooting and ball handling just to get more comfortable with what the Lady Vikings were doing before the season began.

“We are showing a lot of improvement,” Cunningham said. “I feel like we didn’t have winning seasons, we didn’t know what it felt like to win a lot of basketball games and know how successful we can be. In volleyball, we noticed we can win games to hype ourselves up and realized we can do this and play against any team. We are all just really shy and it takes us a while to build the confidence. We need to show we can go after any ball, dive on the ball and learn that shows us how good a team we can be and how determined we are for every single play.”

Cunningham said the team knows you “practice how you play,” so the Lady Vikings are amping up the effort.

“We know it will transfer if we get it in our heads to just repeat and focus on it,” Cunningham said. “It takes all that effort you put into practice to make it so you can do even more when you are in the game.”