Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Cardinal Stritch girls basketball team returns four starters from last year’s team, and second-year head coach Keith Kennedy hopes his team can contend in the TAAC, which includes competing with Toledo Christian.
“Our main goal is we want to get to T. C.” Kennedy said. “We have an opportunity to get T. C. in the league this year. It's been several years. I couldn't even tell you when the last time a Stritch team beat Toledo Christian. That's one of our goals, to at least split with them, if not get two wins.
With the team’s move to Division VII this year, Kennedy also hopes his team can win one or more games in the postseason.
“This is their second season playing together,” Kennedy said of his team’s four returning starters. “For three of them, it's their third season with varsity experience. I think just the IQ, the knowledge, and the experience that they have over the course of the last two to three seasons is really coming together and playing as one unit.”
This year’s team will have to replace last year’s starting point guard, Sydney Miller, who graduated and is now playing JUCO ball at Oakland Community College in Michigan.
“We’re trying to find someone to initiate the offense,” Kennedy said. “Of our four returning starters, any one of the four can bring the ball up at any time for us. We're kind of going with a positionless offense depending on the matchups.”
Despite the loss of Miller, Cardinal Stritch returns four of their top five scorers. Junior Morgan Kennedy, the coach’s daughter, averaged a team-best 8.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per contest. She will be expected to handle some point guard duties this season instead of just being a spot-up shooter, where she shot 46 percent from long distance last season.
“Handling the ball is going to be a departure for her,” Keith Kennedy said. “She's a catch-and-shoot player. She’s not a tall kid, but she does have some strength, so I'm hoping that she looks to get downhill. She was a 76 percent free throw shooter last year, so I'm really looking for her to not just catch and shoot and hit those open threes but also get downhill and get to the free throw line for us as well and add a few points to our average that way.”
Another key returner is junior center Amaya Hill, who averaged eight points, 12 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game last year. She led the league and district in rebounds, and Kennedy said she finished 14th in the state across all divisions on the glass.
Kennedy is hoping to increase her scoring and get her averaging a double-double.
“She is just a beast on the boards and has a natural Dennis Rodman-type mentality for the ball,” he said. “We want to look to isolate her a little bit more and get her some more points.”
Senior Makayla “KK” Miltz is also back at the three-spot after averaging 5.2 points, 2.8 steals, and 1.8 rebounds per game.
“I think she’s one of the best on-ball defenders in Northwest Ohio,” Kennedy said. “She’s just an absolute dog when it comes to pressuring the basketball. We're going to look for her to score a little bit more for us this year as well. She's very, very quick, so I'm trying to work with her on that first-step attack and getting to the rack and the free throw line. I'm hoping with the confidence we've been instilling in her in the preseason that she's going to use her speed and get to the bucket for us.”
Another starter, Alivia Castro, is a senior who averaged 2.9 points and 3.9 rebounds last year. She plays the three and four for the Cardinals.
“She’s a very good ball-handling forward, has great footwork, and an excellent euro step,” Kennedy said. “She can shoot a little bit from mid-range, so she’s just kind of a jack-of-all-trades for us. We're also looking for her to pick up her scoring. She needs to get up to somewhere around six to eight points per game for us.”
Two others that Kennedy is hoping to see more from after not getting many touches last year are seniors posts Erin Carbe and Alanah Black. Between the two of them, they’ll round out the team’s starting lineup depending on matchups.
“I'm looking for them to just be a big physical defensive presence, along with grabbing some rebounds and getting some put-back garbage points for us,” Kennedy said. “That's going to be their focus, so I'm hoping for them to really step up this year to round out that starting five.”
After winning three games two years ago, the Cardinals won seven games last season. Kennedy hopes to continue that upward trend this year, and he believes it starts with improving his team’s defensive points allowed, which was slashed by 17 points per game allowed last year over the previous season.
“We run mainly zone packages, but we do a nice job of really packing the lane and finding people to box out and limiting it to one shot per possession,” he said. “I'm hoping that 17 turns to 20-22 from the year prior. Outside of Morgan and Amaya, we really need Liv and KK to step up their scoring this year, but we're going to need those additional points if we're not able to improve upon our defensive possessions.”
The team also expects to have a balanced attack offensively.
“I think any one of our four returning starters could be a leading scorer for a game on any given night,” Kennedy said. “My focus is for them to be selfish but not stupid, make the extra pass, but look to attack. Each one of them has their own personal gifts. Utilize their talents such as Amaya's strength, KK's speed, Morgan's shooting ability, and Alivia’s footwork. Utilize that to improve upon your scoring averages from last year but make that extra pass and be unselfish.”
