By Josh Staloch
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – Last season, the Green Bay West girls’ basketball team finished its campaign with 13 players between its junior varsity and varsity squads.
The Wildcats still managed to put together five wins over the course of the season.
This year, West has 19 players in the program looking to contribute.
While head coach Tom Mackey is confident he’ll have 10 girls ready to take share varsity minutes this season, he knows there’s much to be done to get his new group up to competitive speed.
“There’s a lot of teaching and learning that has to be done,” said Mackey during one of his team’s early practice sessions. “We opened against Bonduel, who finished last year with 21 wins. Then we play Wausaukee, and they finished with 19 wins last season. It’s a tough way to start.”
The Wildcats lost to Bonduel in the opener, 54-37.
West ended last year with an overall record of 5-17 and a Bay Conference mark of 3-11.
The Wildcats finished seventh of eight teams in the Bay, only ahead of winless Green Bay East.
After opening 2018 with seven consecutive losses, West won four of its next six games before ending the season losing eight of nine.
Mackey will be relying on four returning players from last season’s group to help his team take a step up in 2019-20.
Taeja Morrow, Abby Hynek, Keyshay Allen and Kelis Cornelius all return this year.
Morrow averaged 11.9 points per game, while Cornelius (7.4), Allen (6.2) and Hynek (5.3) will look to add more offense this season.
The foursome will be joined by junior Lilianna Van Beek, who doesn’t have any organized hoops experience but will be a player Mackey will count on for regular minutes.
Beyond that, the Wildcats will look for talent in their underclassmen, as nine of the 19 players currently out for basketball at West are freshmen.
“There’s inexperience there, but we have one freshman girl who is very good and a couple of others who are probably going to have some potential down the road,” said Mackey. “The four returning from last year are familiar with what we’re doing, but this is a different group. Last year, we had lots of problems with depth because of a low turnout. This season is going to be tough – we’re facing some real challenges, but hopefully we can progress as the season moves along and get some good games in.”
The Wildcats have to deal with the loss of graduated seniors Antonia King and Maria Hunter, who pumped in 9.6 and 8.4 points per game last season, respectively.
Green Bay West girls’ basketball schedule
11/26 – Wausaukee
11/30 – @ Algoma – 3 p.m.
12/3 – Kohler
12/6 – @ Seymour
12/10 – Sturgeon Bay
12/13 – @ New London
12/17 – Shawano Community
12/20 – Green Bay East
1/3 – @ Manawa – 7:30 p.m.
1/7 – New London
1/9 – @ West De Pere
1/14 – Menasha
1/17 – @ Xavier
1/21 – Seymour
1/24 – Omro
1/28 – @ Shiocton – 7:30 p.m.
1/31 – @ Shawano – 7:15 p.m.
2/1 – @ Green Bay East – 5:30 p.m.
2/7 – West De Pere
2/13 – @ Menasha
2/20 – Xavier
Editor’s note: All games begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.