Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Woodmore girls basketball team returns four starters and a slew of talent with expectations to compete for an SBC title and make a tournament run.
“I really think this is probably the most experience that I've ever had coming back,” 18th-year head coach Kyle Clair said. “We got four starters coming back. I'm not sure if I've ever had that. We’ve kind of turned them out and kids have come into their own as seniors in years past, but I've had these kids for a long time. I think it's unique in the sense that I haven't had a composed squad like this before.”
The Wildcats went 16-8 overall last year before falling to Carey in the sectional final.
“We want to compete for an SBC River championship,” Clair said. “I think we have the capabilities to do that. That's the key goal for us. We want to make it further in the tournament than we did last year. We’re not necessarily looking at that right now, but that's a long-term goal for us. We just want to be better than yesterday. It's always on our board. In our practices, we have a dry erase board that kids can look at every day, and that's something that's always on there.”
The team’s four returning starters are 5-9 senior guard Camille Strong, 6-0 senior forward Ariana Florio, 5-9 senior guard Keira Travis, and 5-7 senior guard Kelsey Kaylor.
“Kelsey and Camille have been playing for three years,” Clair said. “Camille was in the rotation when we last won the league championship in the NBC (in 2022-23) with Macy Bauder and those kids. We've had some kids around for a while that have seen some things.
“We shared the ball pretty well last year, and I think those four, at any one point, were between six and eight points a game. We shared the scoring load. There wasn’t anybody who was like over the top in terms of that. We have a lot of people who can step up on any given night.”
The Wildcats did graduate Kara Schneider, who averaged 7.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game.
However, Kaylor led the team in scoring at nine per contest while averaging 2.5 steals. Florio added 7.8 points, a team-best 7.7 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game. Strong tallied 7.4 points, a team-best 3.7 assists, and a team-best 2.8 steals per game. Travis averaged four points and 2.2 steals per contest.
“This group is an awesome group to coach,” Clair said. “They're very tight knit. They play multiple sports together, not just basketball, so they kind of go from one thing to another. They’re just great kids, and they want to compete, and they want to do well.
“It's one of those things where you really enjoy getting in the gym every day with these kids because you know that they've been there before, they have the experience and now that it’s their senior year, they want to achieve at a high level. We don't have to coach that up. Those kids are ready to go.”
Senior guard Izzy Helmke returns after being injured about three quarters of the way through last year. Clair said she’s one of the team’s top perimeter players and will be asked to do a little more this year.
Emma Hahn, a junior guard, is also back.
“She played a lot in various key games last year,” Clair said. “She's a defensive specialist, so she brings a lot of energy and a lot of physicality on that end. She'll be asked to obviously do that again and increase her role.”
Overall, Clair has nine players on the varsity roster, and he’ll rotate each one with everyone playing a role. Aside from those mentioned, junior guard Abbie Schmeltz, sophomore forward Karli Heins, and senior post Molly Hower round out the lineup.
“We’re definitely defensive-oriented,” Clair said. “That's always been kind of my thing ever since I've been here. That's what you control, your effort and aggressiveness. We'll be able to be strong on that end. I think we have the ability to do different things. We can play man, we can play different types of zones. We can press. We should be very disciplined.
“I think that'll help us. And obviously, I'll go back to the experience thing. I think these kids, especially the seniors that have been there a little bit, kind of know more how to let the game come to them now. They don't rush things. They understand what it takes, so that experience will definitely be a plus for us.”
Most of the roster was also members of the soccer team’s run to the state semifinal this fall, so Clair is focused on preparing them for basketball with a late start.
“We’re just trying to kind of our get our legs back, get the conditioning up,” he said. “It's a little different in basketball than soccer. We had a couple games pushed back here from the ones that were scheduled (at the start of the season) just so we can get the kids a break and then get them in here and get some time. We've got a couple injuries that we're nursing that we want to get the kids back into play. I think that's kind of where we're at right now. That's our focus, getting everybody back together and at a point where we feel good.”
