Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
The 2016 Lady Coyotes are, from front row left, Tapanga Spencer, Brooke Moench, Payge Hoffman and Sierra Wheelock. Back row from left are, Audrey Juelfs, Ginny Herboldsheimer, Trinity Langley, Dawson Sharman and Alexus Rozelle.
The Lady Coyotes, MAC Conference champs two years running, return to the court with a stacked roster of intense and competitive athletes and have added some promising newcomers as well.
"We have all our starters returning this year," head coach Jeff Einspahr said. "They do a good job of playing defense in the full court and half court as well as pushing the ball on offense in the break."
Einspahr is joined by Lance Juelfs as assistant coach and the two hope to build on last year's 18-3 record as district runner-up and MAC conference winner.
Senior Alexus Rozelle returns after being named to the MAC conference first team. She led the Potter-Dix girls last year with 9.5 points per game and 7.6 rebounds on average.
Audrey Juelfs, a 5'10" junior, was also named to the MAC conference first team. As a sophomore, the point guard averaged 8.4 points per game and 6 rebounds.
Guard Dawson Sharman, a 5'8" senior, added an average of eight points per game to the Coyote board and pulled in an average of 1.8 rebounds. Sharman averaged three assists per game last season and three steals and was on the second MAC conference team.
Junior Trinity Langley was given an honorable mention in the MAC conference last year and will be starting again this year. Langley is joined by junior Payge Hoffman, a 5'5" guard for the Lady Coyotes.
The starting line-up is completed by returning letter earners, Tapanga Spencer, Sierra Wheelock and Brooke Moench.
Einspahr will lean heavily on these returning athletes as leaders throughout the season and he said that he expects improvement from all players in all facets of the game.
"Every player needs to improve individually to make our team better this year to reach our goals," Einspahr added. "We need to improve our scoring from last year as a team in field goal percentages, points, and free throws. We need to continue to improve our rebounding and physical play on defense."
The Lady Coyotes opened their season with a tournament in Kimball on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3 to kick off a challenging schedule.
"We will face some very good teams to start the season," Einspahr said. "We also want to repeat as conference champions and make it three years in a row."