By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After an 8-13 finish a season ago, the Chapman girl’s basketball team is eager to get back on the floor when the new campaign gets underway on Friday.
Michael Wahlmeier returns to the helm for his fourth season leading the Lady Irish.
While the Chapman roster does not contain a single senior, this year’s Lady Irish returns a great deal of talent, with a starting lineup that will feature juniors Avery Baer, Adelynn Kirkpatrick and Abigail Gaston, and sophomore Jai Rodgers.
Chapman will also look for big minutes off the bench from junior Ivy Beck, sophomores Josie Baer and Cora Merritt, and freshman Callie Cook.
We had a chance to catch up with Coach Wahlmeier and get his thoughts on this year’s team before the Irish Classic.
Q: What lessons do you feel this team took from last year that they can take into this year?
A: I think we learned that we need to play better defense. We focused on our offense and didn’t quite live up to the billing we needed to have on defense. We lost a lot of offense to graduation so we know we’ll have to defend.
Q: What feels like the biggest strength of this team going into the season?
A: These are good kids, and they play hard. That’s a win from a coaching standpoint. If you have to be a cheerleader on the sidelines to get kids to play hard you’re fighting an uphill battle, but these kids are hungry for wins and they’re hungry for playing time. It’s a very competitive team.
Q: What are the biggest question marks you still have for this team?
A: We need to focus on rebounding because we don’t have a lot of height. We have to block out and go and get rebounds, or we’re going to give teams a lot of second chances, and we can’t afford that.
Q: What are the biggest goals or expectations that this team wants to achieve this year?
A: We’ve got the Irish Classic and we always want to have a good showing in our home tournament and be prepared to give ourselves a chance to win that. We also want to win more games than we lose, that’s important to view as a long-term goal.
The Lady Irish open the new year at home when the Irish Classic gets underway on Friday night.