By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After finishing the 2019-20 season with an impressive 18-5 record, the Chapman Fighting Irish girls basketball team will be in a bit of a rebuild while looking to put together a strong 2020-21 season.
Drew Gruver will return for his second season as head coach of the girls team.
Due to recommendations from the county health officer all winter sports at Chapman High School have been halted until at least January seventh.
Chapman will be adding a few new pieces to veterans from last season with a lineup that should include...
PG: Maya Kirkpatrick (So, 5-8)
G: Marie Meuli (Jr, 5-5)
F: Shannon Anderson (Jr, 5-9)
The final two spots in the Irish lineup will be competed for by Maggie Lewis, Sophia Cavanaugh, Grace Merritt and Allie Johnson.
We had a chance to talk to Coach Gruver ahead of the season to ask him some questions about this year's team.
Q: When all is said and done what was your takeaway from your first season at the helm of this program?
A: Last year we had a great season, with it being my first year I was very lucky to have such an experienced group to start with. Those girls really bought into what we were trying to do.
What are the biggest things that you have tried to bring to the culture of girls basketball at Chapman?
I think for me the biggest thing is to see us play hard, play smart, play together and have fun. Those are four things that we preach to all of our teams, do those things and the rest will come.
What would you say could be the biggest strength of this team heading into the new season?
I think a strength that we could build off of is our defense and using our athleticism to try and create chaos and turnovers that could lead to points.
And your biggest weakness?
We have a lot of question marks but a big one is who is going to step up and score for us. We don’t return a lot of scoring from last year's team so we need to find players who can step up and make some baskets on the offensive end.
Who are one or two players that you think Chapman fans should keep an eye on this season?
I think Maya Kirkpatrick is someone who was big for us last year, she played more of a defensive stopper role but I think she could be a big eye opener for people once we get her going this year. I also think Shannon Anderson has a chance to be someone that steps up and does some good things for us this year.
With so many new and young players on the floor this year what is your expectation for the 2020-21 season?
Our goal is to improve every day. Since we are a young team without a lot of varsity experience we need to improve and get better every time we take the floor. Hopefully by the end of the year we’re playing our best basketball and we can make a run.
Chapman should be able to return to basketball and other athletic activities on January seventh.