By Greg Bates
Correspondent
SEYMOUR – New Seymour girls’ basketball coach Ryan Goltz is bringing change to the program.
The Thunder are coming off a six-win season and Goltz is going to speed up the offense and has implemented a man-to-man defense.
Goltz, who spent the previous three years as the Green Bay West girls’ basketball coach, said he’s been encouraged by what he’s seen so far.
“I’ve learned these girls want to be here, get better and work together,” he said.
Goltz is the program’s third coach in as many years.
“It’s exciting to get a new look with a new coach because we struggled last year getting a new coach,” senior Adrianna Volz said. “We’re starting to click with trying new things. We’ve got more height with our underclassmen, so I’m excited to see how they can help out the team.”
Goltz said he has some good talent on this year’s roster.
“We’ve got good varsity experience — four or five girls who started a few games last year, and then we have a few younger girls who will be fighting for some minutes, too,” he said.
Seymour lost two seniors off of last year’s team — third-leading scorer Kyle Vanden Langenberg (8.4 points per game) and Gracie Schadrie (3.4 points) — and second-leading scorer Micayla Silas (10.2 points) moved out of state.
Volz led Seymour in scoring last year at 10.8 points per game.
Also back are Sam Nieland (7.6 points), Heather Krause (6.9 points) and Rilee Powless (6.1 points).
“Having them step up will open up things for the younger returning players who take their roles and hopefully be three- to six-point-getters,” Goltz said. “Having three or four kids score — we’ve got 10 that can get out there and score on any given night.”
Goltz said he’s expecting bigger things from the senior Powless.
“(Powless) had a bit of a down year from scoring nine a game as a sophomore to about five or six last year,” Goltz said. “She’s shown some good strides and taken some leadership roles. I’m hoping she has a great year.”
After scoring 6.6 points per game as a sophomore — to go along with 7.6 rebounds per game — Volz bumped into double figures last season.
“I’ve got to be more of a leader to the underclassmen on the court and try and get them scoring opportunities, too, while also helping the team score and doing what I can,” Volz said. “I’ve gotten more confident in my ball handling, too, and feel confident in myself taking it down the court.”
Goltz has put in a four-out, one-in motion offensive scheme, which he’s always used at each of his coaching stops.
Seymour averaged 48 points per game last season.
“To me, that’s the purest, fun form of basketball, but it takes time,” Goltz said. “Running the motion is something that gives these kids the ability to use their strengths, create for others and put others in positions to use their strengths. Creating space and letting kids drive is going to be huge for us and create more opportunities.”
Seymour’s defense allowed 56.4 points per game last year as it played mostly a 2-3 zone.
Goltz switched to an up-in-your-face, man-to-man defense.
“We’re working on defense because we struggled with other teams scoring on us,” Volz said. “We’re trying a new defense, and hopefully, that will help us.”
Along with his upperclassmen, Goltz has pulled up a couple of freshmen — Salem Boyd and Keira VandeHei — to varsity who he said believes can make an impact.
The freshman class is deep, according to Goltz.
Seymour dropped its opening postseason game a season ago.
“We’ve gotten some good girls to help us,” Volz said.
Even though it’s his first season at Seymour, Goltz said he’s not looking at this as a rebuilding year.
“We’re all hoping to win,” Goltz said. “There were a few close games last year, and hopefully, we can get a few wins early and build off of that knowing we can get back to winning. It can be contagious once you win a few games.”
2021-22 Seymour girls’ basketball regular-season schedule
12/7 – West De Pere
12/10 – Green Bay East
12/14 – Antigo
12/17 – @ Winnebago Lutheran Academy – 7:15 p.m.
12/21 – @ Shawano
12/23 – New London – 6 p.m.
1/4 – Oneida Nation
1/7 – Xavier
1/11 – @ Menasha
1/21 – @ West De Pere
1/27 – @ Green Bay East
1/31 – @ Bonduel
2/4 – Shawano
2/8 – @ New London
2/11 – @ Xavier
2/17 – Menasha
Sports editor’s note: All games begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.