West High girls' basketball attempt to bounce back

An assignment for my Sports Reporting and Writing class. A season preview for the IC West High School girls' varsity basketball team.
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Most basketball head coaches couldn't even imagine the thought of losing their best player — especially one that leads the team in points, rebounds, and steals.

But for B.J. Mayer that's exactly what happened. However instead of uncertainty, he sensed opportunity.

Mayer, the head coach of the West High School girls' varsity basketball team, believes that despite graduating five seniors — including all-state selection Emma Krieger Kittle — his squad can still compete with other top teams in the Mississippi Valley league.

His roster this season has decreased not only in size but experience as well. However, Mayer believes that speed and quickness can still be used an advantage on the court.

"We want to just be able to try to wear teams down," he said. "We feel with our ten kids we're going to be able to run kids in and out and not lose a lot of depth and intensity."

Last year, the Women of Troy made a run at the state championship but were eliminated by Ankeny to finish the season 16-6.

Krieger Kittle and Madison Sadecky were the team's two top scorers, averaging 15.3 ppg and 10.4 ppg to lead the way for West High. With their departure, Mayer hopes to implement a different game plan. He wants to rely more on the three-point shot.

Senior Kristin Fomon looks to pave the way as she shot 26.8 percent from behind the arc last season, second on the team behind Sadecky who shot 38.9 percent.

Defensively, sophomore Tatum Klein looks to see some action. Mayer named her as the team's "best defender." Klein was the only underclassmen listed on the varsity roster last year.

Mayer hopes that as the season progresses and players become more comfortable, they'll be right where they need to be in order to make another playoff run.

"Obviously we want to continue to get better," he said. "I think that's going to be the biggest challenge for us, by playing as many young kids as we're going to be playing who did not get a lot of experience in the past couple of years.

"It's just going to have to keep taking steps forward and hopefully by the end of the year, be plying as good as we can in the end."

West High kicks off their season by traveling to Fairfield for a non-conference season opener on Nov. 24.