Yet again, the Van-Far girls roster will be dominated by underclassmen.
Even though there will be one upperclassman – junior Trinity Skwirtz – for the Lady Indians this season, some …
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Yet again, the Van-Far girls roster will be dominated by underclassmen.
Even though there will be one upperclassman – junior Trinity Skwirtz – for the Lady Indians this season, some of the others have a full season of varsity experience from last year.
Van-Far had a record of 4-19 to decline from other seasons but won three games in its final five of the season. Head coach Heather Minter said she expects to have eight of nine players for varsity out of the 12 total players, and five of those are sophomores who have played varsity minutes.
“They’ve definitely grown a little bit,” Minter said. “They’re not where we want them to be. We’re trying to get them out of the mindset of they’re still a young team because no one really cares.”
Elliott Utterback is the leader for this year’s returning sophomore group that also includes Kenya Jones, Mylee Keller, Chloe Zumwalt and Khloe Wallace. Carmen Wilburn was the lone all-Eastern Missouri Conference player and of three seniors who graduated.
“We know Elliott’s going to have a big year, but we also know people are going to try to shut her down because she’s our returning leading scorer,” Minter said. “We’re looking for big things from Zumwalt. Wallace is going to develop into a scorer. Mylee is doing some good things taking care of the ball. Kenya’s that streaky player that is either off or on so we’re trying to get her to figure out how to stay positive no matter what’s going on with her.”
Minter said Van-Far does have a lot of weapons but is still unsure how they all fit together. During positive periods last season, the Lady Indians were hot from the perimeter but need to figure out how this year’s roster will mesh.
Minter said about three of the six freshmen should move up to varsity. She said Carly Hunn will at least be a defensive weapon off the bench and should see minutes along with post player Aviana Early and perhaps eventually Ashlyn Marshall.
“We’re probably going to see a lot of zone so that’s something we have to work on, as the coaches, to get ready for that,” Minter said. “Overall, I’m happy where we’re at but not satisfied where we’re at.”
