By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After finishing the 2023-24 season a winless 0-20, the Abilene girl's basketball team is looking forward to starting fresh this season with a brand new campaign ahead of them.
Shawn Herrman returns to lead the Cowgirls for his third season at the helm.
Abilene will be very young going into this season, with Renatta Heintz expected to be the only senior in the lineup.
Heintz will be joined in the starting five by junior MaKenna Stover, sophomores Kit Barbieri and Timber Taylor and freshman Tessa Herrman.
The Cowgirls will also look for big minutes off their bench out of a pair of juniors in Aleena Watson and Kailee Crane.
Ahead of the start of the 2023-24 season we visited with Coach Herrman to get his thoughts on this year’s team.
Q: What lessons do you feel this team learned last year that you can take into this year?
A: The biggest lesson we learned is how to handle pressure. The game has changed, and everybody presses now, but we have to find ways to adapt and handle that. Last year, we struggled with guard play but we have some returners and newcomers who can help us with that.
Q: What feels like the biggest strength of this team going into the season?
A: Right now I think our biggest strength is our athleticism. We have a lot of young ladies who are great athletes and right now it’s our job to shape them into good basketball players as well.
Q: On the other side of that, what are the biggest question marks you still have with this team?
A: Our youth is a big question mark. We only have one returning senior, and we’re going to throw in a lot of juniors, sophomores and freshmen. We have some players who played some good JV minutes from last year, like Kailee Crane, Aleena Watson, Kit Barbieri, Timber Taylor, and Tessa Herrman, who are really dynamic. We’re excited to see what they can do this year.
Q: What goals has this team laid out for themselves in 2023-24?
A: Our girls just want to play hard and compete for each other. We talk about loving each other and being grateful for the opportunities that we have, and this group is definitely relishing that. I’m excited to see what they can do.
The Cowgirls will open their season this Friday when they travel to Towanda to battle the Circle Thunderbirds.