Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Lake girls basketball team made an unlikely run to last year’s district championship game and 11th-year head coach Joe Nowak is hoping his team can continue that momentum behind a slew of returners, led by junior guard Brooke Wiley.
“Having kind of an up-and-down, tumultuous season last year, it was tough for our group to get through, and returning so many players definitely impacts our outlook this year,” Nowak said. “But then the little bit of a tournament run at the end of the year last year, I think just really put a hunger into a lot of our girls and just kind of got them to see the potential that the group could have when the chemistry was there.”
The Flyers finished 9-16 overall last year but toppled co-NBC champion Oak Harbor for the sectional title. Then, they knocked off another NBC rival, Fostoria, in the district semifinal, before falling to a talented Liberty-Benton squad featuring University of Toledo commit Cora Dehart.
A key player driving that tournament run was Wiley, who had a breakout sophomore campaign by averaging 15.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 4.5 steals per game. She was tabbed First Team All-NBC, Third Team All-District, and Special Mention All-Ohio.
“Throughout the course of last year, and even in her freshman year, I think we saw that potential there,” Nowak said. “The biggest impact on her development over the course of her freshman year and sophomore year, and then the really big improvements over this past offseason, is just her drive and desire to improve.”
Nowak said Wiley’s been working on further improving her leadership while working on her court skills.
“In terms of X's and O's, we really worked on her efficiency with the basketball in her hands with different moves, different footwork, and stuff like that to get her good looks,” he said. “And to continue to work on finishing through contact and finishing through physical defenders that we'll anticipate that she sees throughout the course of the season. We continue to take strides in her rebounding and her defensive pressure as well. I think she does a really good job in terms of her communication at that end of the floor and with her motor.”
Wiley’s play becomes even more important without post player Savannah Little, who isn’t playing this year in order to focus on soccer.
“Losing an inside presence like that and a solid rebounder and just the length around the rim that Savannah provided us really leaves a hole there in the middle of our defense,” Nowak said. “We're trying to not necessarily fill that with any one particular player, but more so by committee. When you look at our overall size, we're not going to ever be classified as a big team with a lot of size. We're going to have to kind of make up for that with a whole lot of grit and willingness to be physical on the boards.”
Some of those players are expected to be reigning Honorable Mention All-NBC Gabby Moreno, a 5-9 sophomore forward, along with 5-9 junior forward McKinly Johnston, and 5-9 sophomore guard Aubrina Morales.
Nowak said Moreno is likely the team’s biggest player who brings a level of physicality on the glass. Johnston and Morales are expected to bring length while contesting shots and helping with rebounds.
“There's something to be said about the players who come in and compete day to day,” Nowak said. “They work hard, and they just might not see it show up in the box score or anything like that. They might not be filling up the point totals or the rebounds or anything else like that, but their willingness to compete really fills some voids that we've had defensively.”
Last year’s second leading scorer, Kaydence Eckenrode, also returns after averaging 5.9 points per game. She is one of four senior guards along with Rowan Brossia, Penelope Garcia, and Makenna Wilson.
“Kaydence is another one who has kind of taken on kind of a shifted role from last year,” Nowak said. “She’s certainly capable of doing some really good things, and I think she has that expectation of herself, too. (We want her to be) aggressive on the boards and play with kind of a chip on her shoulder defensively. I think she's got the attitude to do that. She's a little bit undersized in terms of height, but she's got some really big fight in her.”
A key newcomer this year is freshman guard Paige Allen, who has shown flashes of being a potential double-digit scorer while also handling some of the point guard duties.
“Adding Paige complements our overall schemes,” Nowak said. “She anticipates well, and she's quick. She gets up and down the floor pretty quickly, even with the ball in her hands. I think just having that additional threat who can shoot from outside and is confident to take those shots, but also has the ability to get inside the defense and really make it collapse, and either look for a scoring opportunity or a kick out, will benefit us to be able to open things up throughout the course of a game.”
Nowak said he has nearly 10 kids who could see consistent playing time this year. He pointed to the team’s chemistry and willingness to be adaptable and coachable as key strengths for the Flyers.
“With not very much length, we'll have to really experiment with some shifting lineups, and really shifting positions, throughout the course of a possession,” he said. “We’ll have different times in the game where some players might start out on the perimeter and end up shifting throughout the possession to catch the ball at an inside scoring position just to kind of queue up some other actions for us. I think the fluidness of our offense and the players' understanding of that is definitely going to go a long way.”
The Flyers were tabbed to finish third in the NBC behind last year’s co-champions, Oak Harbor and Genoa.
