Highland girls basketball team looks to have another big season with younger roster
The Highland Lady Bulldogs basketball team will have a decidedly different look during the 2021-22 season.
Gone from last year’s club that went 10-3 during the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season are standouts Taylor Kesner, Bella LaPorta, Kirsten Taylor and Liv Wilke.
That quartet has moved onto college and HHS now must navigate this winter with a much younger group.
“Obviously, we are pretty young on returners (this year) with us graduating out four seniors,” Highland coach Clint Hamilton said. “We are a brand new fresh squad and we’re going to have a few growing pains this year, but we’ve got kids that work hard.”
Top returners for HHS include senior Abby Huelsmann, junior Grace Wilke, senior Lydia Hadowsky, and senior Emma Warner.
First and foremost, Hamilton will lean on the leadership of Huelsmann as she will run the club at point guard. Huelsmann averaged 5.3 points a game while shooting 36.8% from the 3-point line last season.
“Abby is super long and she’s super aggressive and a good rebounder,” Hamilton said. “She’s a kid that will get a lot of playing time.”
The Lady Bulldogs will also have to weather some adversity at the start of this season as two projected starters will be out due to injuries. Senior Krista Rittenhouse is out with an ACL injury until at least February, and sophomore Lauren Moss is sidelined with a torn meniscus from volleyball season and will not be available until at least late in the campaign.
“We’re taking a big hit with those two injuries because they were going to be starters. Not only does it hurt us there but it hurts us on our bench, too, now because two of those kids that were going to be off the bench are now starting for me,” Hamilton said.
Leading the juniors will be Addison Crask, who is expected to fill minutes playing at center.
“She’s played center for us and she’ll be a kid getting a lot of varsity time this year and she’s a potential starter,” Hamilton said.
Heading the sophomore class will be twin sisters Abby and Alex Schultz and Larissa Taylor. All three should challenge for a starting spot or see major minutes.
Abby Schultz and Taylor will play primarily in the post while Alex Schultz will work in the rotation as a guard/forward on the wing.
Defense key for Highland
As the season begins, Highland plans to rely on its defense to help keep it close in games since scoring may be sporadic at times this season.
“We’ll have to rely a lot on defense and we are going to have to plan our game that way as we’re not going to be able to score the ball as we have in the past,” Hamilton said.
“Just from what I saw this summer and going off this first week of practice our defense has got to be our strength to keep us in games. Then, hopefully, we have some timely scoring to get us a 10-point lead or so and we can just stay at it that way defensively.”
Team excited for ‘normal’ season, open at Salem Tournament
Hamilton also noted his team is excited about having a “normal” season this winter with being able to play for a Mississippi Valley Conference championship and in the postseason playoffs.
He added there is a renewed energy and buzz with this year’s group now that they have a normal “full” season to look forward to after the COVID-shortened campaign in 2020-21.
Highland opens the season at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, with a first-round game in the Salem Tournament against Carterville.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 9:00 AM.