By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Salina South girls basketball team will look to build on the momentum of a 10-6 finish after stumbling out of the gates in 2020-21.
With Ryan Stuart taking an assistant principal position at South, the Cougars have promoted former assistant Justin Ebert, who will take the helm after 14 years at South and four years with the girls.
While the Cougars will once again lack size, they do return a great deal of experience, which could get the team over the .500 hump for the first time since 2012-13.
When South takes the floor to begin their season on Friday their lineup will look something like this.
PG- Sydney Peterson (Sr)
G- Kylie Arnold (Sr)
G- Kalysa Hamel (Sr)
G- Elena Herbel (Jr)
F- Lauren Harris (Jr)
The Cougars should also get a boost off the bench from Emily Anderson, Giselle Nash, and Montanna Packett.
Ahead of the new season, we had a chance to sit down with Coach Ebert and ask him a few questions about the new season.
Q: How excited are you to get back to a somewhat normal season in 2021-22?
A: “We’re excited for the fact that it’s going to be a mostly normal year. We know that we have a 20 game schedule in front of us and we don’t have to constantly worry about it being taken away.”
Q: What do you want to add to the culture of girls basketball here at South?
A: “I’ve always been a coach that wants to see our players get up and down the court quickly in a high-scoring game. We don’t want to have 30-40 second possessions and we’re really small so we need to play quick and work hard on the defensive to get ourselves looks in transition. Over the last 4-5 years this program has seen steady progress. We’ve been slowly building towards where we want to be and we want to continue building on that.”
Q: What would you say is the biggest strength of this team heading into the new year?
A: “Our guard experience is big and will help us handle situations that we’ve been in before and our defensive intensity and ability to get out and guard the ball is something that we’re going to have to hang our hat on this year.”
Q: What are your biggest question marks coming into the new season?
A: “The biggest question is still how we’re going to make up for our lack of size, how we’re going to bring in rebounds, and how we’re going to limit teams to one shot and get extra possessions on our side of the ball. We also had three of our top players from last year move away so finding new players to come off the bench and fill big roles is a question mark for us.”
Q: What are the goals and expectations that this team has set for themselves this season?
A: “It’s been eight years since Salina South has had a winning season so that .500 mark is a big and very obtainable goal for us. Beyond that, we want to be in the SIT championship game and we won a playoff game last year so we’d like to build on that and make a run at the state tournament this year.”
The Cougars will tip off their season hosting their cross-town rivals when they welcome in the Salina Mustangs on December 4th.
For more on South hoops in 2021-22 stay tuned to the Salina Post.