Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Freshman Alex Reader, right, guards a Bridgeport player during a game in the subdistrict playoffs. The Lady Longhorns finished the season with an 11-13 record.
Kimball's Kailey Dickerson, right, puts the defensive clamps on an opposing player during a game earlier this season.
The 2014-15 season for the Kimball High girls basketball program may have come up a bit short of the expectations of coach Chauncey Pedersen with 11 wins and 13 losses, but there were some positive achievements, and the future looks bright.
First and foremost, the program graduates only two seniors in Alexis Gawith and Jessica Hanks. Hanks played a major role as a starter and was an honorable mention All Western Trails Conference selection, but this also means that four starters return for coach Pedersen to build around next season, including All Conference selections, Danika Daum and Madison Biesecker.
This year's team was a good shooting group. They set a new school record in free throw shooting of 65%, bettering the 1980-81 record of 64.6%. This year's team also bettered the 3-point field goal record for a season ending up with 117 total to erase the old mark of 103 set in 1998-99. In the free throw percentage category, junior Danika Daum shot 70%, Jessica Hanks 69%, Madison Biesecker 68%, and Kailey Dickerson 64%. Freshman Alex Reader was in at 63%. Again, all but Hanks are back!
In the 3-point department, Reader joined a group of former players who have made five treys in a game, with only three players ahead of this mark with 6. Daum moved into the select group of 3-point shots made in a season at the number 12 spot with 32 and now sits in the number 6 spot in 3 pointers made in a career with 60 with a season remaining.
Miss Daum is working her way up the ladder in other school records as well, tying the number 6 spot for points in a game of 29, now holds down the number 3 spot for points in a season at 417, is number 3 in points in a career at 878, is number 4 in rebounds in a season with 220, her 15 blocks this season is number 7, and her career mark now of 39 is tied for 4th all time. The 5'11" talented junior will write her name into the books even more with her senior year expected to be her best.
Daum averaged 17.4 points per game this season while shooting 32% from the field, averaged 9.2 rebounds and had multiple double-double nights. She made 32 treys to lead the team despite playing a big role with her inside play, and also led the team in steals with 52.
Biesecker scored 225 points averaging 9.4 a game, had 21 treys while shooting a team high 29% from beyond the arc, had 51 steals, led the team in assists with 50, and averaged 5 rebounds.
Hanks scored 187 points averaging 7.8 points, had 20 treys shooting 27% on 3 pointers, had 30 steals and 25 assists and averaged 5.6 rebounds.
Reader, in her freshman year, scored 150 points averaging 6.5, had 27 treys and shot 28%, averaged 2.9 rebounds, had 35 steals and 41 assists.
Arica McCloud, a junior, had 83 points and a 3.6 average, averaged 3.8 rebounds, had 28 steals and 15 assists.
Junior Kailey Dickerson scored 78 points averaging 3.3 points, averaged 1.4 rebounds, had 25 steals and 31 assists.
Junior Myriah Tyan had 58 points and a 2.4 point average, a 3.6 rebound average, 17 steals and 18 assists. Sophomore Jannel Fiehtner also saw varsity playing time as did senior Alexis Gawith and junior Ireland Olson.
In team stats, Kimball ended up with 1,219 points averaging 50.8 a game shooting 30% from the field including 25% on 3 point attempts. They averaged 32.3 rebounds per game, 10.5 steals per game, 8.9 assists per game. A negative is turnovers where they gave it up 424 times averaging 17.66 per game.
Coach Pedersen, commenting on the season said, "I was disappointed in that I felt we never put together a full game. I felt we had improvement all season in our individual play. I was happy with our come-back wins over Chase County, Bridgeport, and Gordon-Rushville. We have a lot of people back next year and we look to do a lot in the off season to improve our play for next season."
There are some incoming freshman players who could also help the program next season and coach Pedersen will need all the help he can get as it appears Kimball will return to C-l play next year, moving up from C-2 due to larger enrollment.