By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
On the heels of a season that saw them flip their record from 8-13 to 13-9, the Chapman girl’s basketball team will look to solidify their place in Class 4A this year.
Michael Wahlmeier returns to lead the Lady Irish in his third year as Chapman’s head coach.
Despite losing a big piece in Maya Kirkpatrick to graduation, this year’s Irish returns a great deal of experience and talent, with a familiar lineup that should look something like this come Friday.
G- Elyssa Frieze (Sr)
G- Ava Locke (Sr )
G- Avery Baer (So)
F- Keira Jones (Sr)
The final spot in the starting five and key rotational minutes will go to another senior in Tanith Elliott, and a pair of juniors in Madalynn Harold and Kaci Heller.
Ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, we had a chance to catch up with Coach Wahlmeier and get his thoughts on this year’s squad.
Q: When you had a chance to look back on it, what were your overall thoughts on last season?
A: We were very satisfied with last season, we would have liked to have a better showing in the substate championship, but the team accomplished most of our goals and set the tone for this year.
Q: Entering this year, what would you say are the biggest known strengths of your team?
A: Our defense will be one of our biggest strengths. Elyssa Frieze is a tenacious defender and the rest of the team feeds off her energy. Offensively we should be pretty solid as well, returning Keira Jones and Ava Locke who both averaged double figures in scoring for us.
Q: What are the biggest looming questions or challenges that you’ll look to sort out in these first few weeks?
A: Even though we return a lot of scoring from last year we graduated our most consistent player in Maya Kirkpatrick. We expect Avery Baer to step into that role this year, those are big shoes for a sophomore to fill but we are confident in Avery.
Q: What are the biggest goals and expectations for this group heading into the new season?
A: We want to be competitive in each and every game. We open the season with our Irish Classic and the team has set a goal of winning the tournament this season.
Chapman opens their season with the Irish Classic which will tip off on Wednesday, December 6th.