GREENVILLE – With a roster featuring three returning starters, Greenville is hoping to continue to improve during the 2016-17 girls basketball season.
Greenville has a large group of players returning from last season’s team, which went 2-21 overall and 0-10 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. Payton Brandenburg, Lessie Cable, Cassie Cromwell, Kaylee Jackson, Saki Nakamura and Karsyn Shaffer all are returning players with varsity experience. The Wave have to replace four seniors: Chloe McKinney, Abby Miller, Nicole Sherry and Sara Wenning.
Shaffer is Greenville’s top returning player as she earned special mention all-GWOC North honors a year ago. As a junior she averaged 6.7 points and 2.9 assists per game.
Cromwell will return to Greenville’s starting lineup as a forward. As a sophomore last year she led the Wave with 7.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
The Lady Wave’s third returning starter is Brandenburg, who also is a forward. Last year as a sophomore she averaged 5.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
After being Greenville’s top scoring threat off the bench last year, Jackson will assume a role as a starting guard this season. Last year as a sophomore she averaged 5.7 points per game.
Freshman Morgan Gilbert will round out Greenville’s starting lineup as the Wave’s point guard.
Cable and Nakamura both return to Greenville’s roster as players who can play either guard or forward off the bench. Shooting guard Jada Garland and guard Lani Shilt also figure to be key contributors off the bench for the Lady Wave.
While Greenville has several players back this year, the Wave will look different with some new concepts in both offense and defense. On the defensive end Greenville will mix things up more with full-court, three-quarter court, half-court man and zone concepts all in play. On offense the Wave will run in transition more and feature a more open concept compared to last year’s half-court offense.
Coach Rachel Kerns said Greenville’s ability to run the floor and score in transition should be a strength this year. She also likes her team’s ability to handle the ball in its offense and the Wave’s ability to get quality shots. The team still needs to work on finishing offensive sets with baskets and communication, she said.
Greenville wants to be able to take care of the basketball and be competitive in all of its game, Kerns said. If they do that, the Lady Wave would put themselves in position to win more games this year.