Bowling Green point guard Lola Thompson (11), who will be a senior this year, looks to pass last year in a loss at Liberty Center. (Jeff Ratliff/Aim Media file)
Last year was Bowling Green girls basketball coach Jake Vanneman’s first season at the helm of a varsity program.
The Bobcats finished 6-17 overall and 2-12 in the Northern Lakes League, and Vanneman has five letter winners returning hoping to make a run in the NLL’s new Cardinal Division. To do so, the Bobcats plan on picking up the tempo a bit.
“We aim to push the ball to get open looks but want to force teams to run offense and limit transition points,” Vanneman said.
Vanneman says the Bobcats will need to be more aggressive at “attacking the basket — we’ll work hard to get to the rim.”
Among the letter winners are senior point guard Lola Thompson, senior shooting guard Macyn Dean-Scheele, and senior post Allison Fry.
Thompson, who led the returnees in minutes last year, averaged 5.7 points and Fry averaged 4.5 rebounds. Vanneman believes with that year of experience behind her Fry can make a bigger impact this year.
Vanneman says Fry, who was the second leading rebounder last year, “has worked hard on her scoring.” The other returning post with varsity experience is Anne Konecny.
Vanneman says sophomore guard Lizzie Amspoker has “speed and strength” that will allow her to make an impact immediately.
Other than Amspoker, Vanneman says his bench is “sophomores with no varsity experience.”
Vanneman believes BG can finish in the middle of the Cardinal Division, but adds that a “lack of depth will hurt us as the season wears on.”
The Cardinal Division includes previous NLL members Sylvania Southview, Springfield, and Napoleon and also newcomers Clay and Fremont Ross. Vanneman says he’s “excited” for the new-look schedule that creates.
“It’s always fun to build new friendly rivalries and compete with more teams,” Vanneman said.
Jackets to challenge Generals
Teams competing for the bigger-school NLL Buckeye Division championship are Perrysburg, Sylvania Northview, Toledo Whitmer, Findlay, and Anthony Wayne.
Divisional members will play each other twice, home and away, which will count as league games, while teams from the Cardinal and Buckeye divisions will play each other once in a non-league contest.
Perrysburg 15th-year coach Todd Sims (250-89 career record) believes AW will be the team to beat in the Buckeye Division, but believes his Yellow Jackets can compete with the Generals.
“We are still young in some spots but we have a lot of varsity game experience,” Sims said. “I really like our quickness and ability to create turnovers.
“We need to keep working on scoring in the paint and rebounding. The new NLL is loaded this year. It should be fun.”
Last year, the Yellow Jackets finished 18-7 overall and 10-4 in the NLL, but they will have to replace the inside presence of 6-foot-2 senior center Wrigley Takats (5.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 blocks) who will be focusing on her upcoming NCAA Division I volleyball career and not playing basketball.
Four returning guards, 5-foot-6 junior Hayley Griggs (6.7 pts., 2.7 assists), 5-9 junior Chloe Kilbride (9 pts., 1.4 asst.), 5-6 junior Ayla Turk (5.9 pts., 3.3 asst.), and 5-6 sophomore Kallie Thames (8.1 pts., 4.2 reb.), present a strong backcourt presence.
