Highland Lady Bulldogs cagers look to rebound after down 2021-22 season

The 2021-22 season was a down one for the Highland girl basketball program.

Featuring a lineup that was long on youth and short on experience, the Lady Bulldogs struggled and turned in a disappointing 8-24 campaign.

This winter, HHS is looking to put those days squarely in the rearview mirror.

Highland returns four starters from last year’s team and will again look to make some waves in the Mississippi Valley Conference standings.

“I think the big thing is the kids have got to get back to believing that they’re that kind of caliber of team and there’s no doubt in my mind that we are this year,” Highland coach Clint Hamilton said.

Senior guard Grace Wilke, senior guard Addison Crask, junior post Larissa Taylor, and junior forward Abby Schultz comprise the Lady Bulldogs’ core returners this season.

Junior Lauren Maas — out last season with an injury — will step in at the point guard spot to run the offense for HHS.

Hamilton also will have the luxury of bringing in some youth as sophomores Sophie Fleming, Sidney Coziar, Paige Kleibocker, and Payton Frey are all expected to see action.

“They all are going to get some minutes (on the floor),” Hamilton said.

Two freshmen also will figure into the player rotation as Jordan Bircher and Sophie Schroder both should see varsity action.

Having depth will be a big plus for Hamilton and it allow the Lady Bulldogs to go back to the uptempo pressure defensive style of play that made them successful in previous seasons such as 2019-20 when HHS went 27-8 with a IHSA Class 3A super-sectional appearance.

“We’re gonna be pretty deep which will be an advantage for us and allow us to play fast and get up and down the floor and be able to play eight, nine, or 10 kids. That’s gonna be big for us,” Hamilton said.

Improved scoring should help the Lady Bulldogs in a big way this season. Hamilton said the club has multiple players who can shoot the ball and score.

“We’ve got four or five kids now that score at any given point where last year at times, we struggled getting the ball in the basket,” Hamilton said. “Over the summer we saw really big improvements and just across the board everybody getting the ball in the basket and being confident within themselves.”

The Lady Bulldogs definitely will look to push the tempo again this season like in past years.

“We don’t have a ton of size this year. We’ve got Larissa, Abby, and Paige Kleibocker — she can play in the post for us (too),” Hamilton said. “We’re gonna play about seven or eight guards and get up and pressure and play full court and transition and try to get some easy baskets which we weren’t really used to that last year. That’s kind of the goal going on this year.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 7:22 PM.