Even though the weather still says fall, the winter sports season officially started on Tuesday when McAuley Catholic girls basketball hosted Carthage, College Heights Christian and Miller in a four-team jamboree.
“It’s very exciting,” McAuley coach Mike Howard said. “When I first scheduled this, I thought we needed to bring some good teams here so we could get the girls used to playing the good teams. It turned out, we have three district champions and a very good Class 5 school in Carthage. The competition level is very high here. Everyone is super excited about playing today.”
WARRIORS RETURN SOLID CORE FOR UPCOMING CAMPAIGN
After finishing with 21 wins in 2018 and 20 wins in 2019, McAuley Catholic is looking to make it three seasons in a row with 20 or more victories. While it won’t be an easy task, the Warriors have several key returning pieces to lead the team this season.
“It is going to take a lot of hard work and effort,” Howard said. “We have a good core coming back. We return three starters. … We are going to need a lot of our younger kids to mature and step up to fill those minutes. I think we will have growing pains early. As long as we work hard and stick together, I think we will be fine down the stretch.
“The beginning of our schedule is pretty difficult. We play tough teams at the start so our kids can get used to the speed of the high school game. Taking our bumps and bruises and learning from our mistakes early is going to be important for our success later.”
The Warriors return junior starters Kennedy DeRuy and Kayleigh Teeter as well as senior Gliza Damaso.
“They are going to mean everything,” Howard said. “Those three are who is going to keep this thing going. Kayleigh and Kennedy are my top two returning scorers, and Gliza is our senior leader who has a great defensive presence. Those three are really going to have to step up for us this year, and they will be a big factor in the success we have this year.”
Sophomore Lily Black and junior Abbey Cahalan figure to fill out the starting five. As far as coming off the bench, the Warriors lack experience in their rotational players.
“Depth is going to be a weakness this year,” Howard said. “We have some younger players who will grow and develop the more time they get on the court.”
Those younger players coming off the bench include freshmen Kloee Williamson and Avery Gardner, and sophomore Aaliyah Perez. Of course, with so many younger players stepping into larger roles this season, the leadership and guidance from DeRuy, Teeter and Damaso will be crucial.
“From the first day of practice, they have stepped up and been leaders on and off the court,” Howard said. “They are great people and great human beings. They have stepped up and will help out the younger kids.”
McAuley opens the season as hosts to Liberal on Nov. 24.
