Hornets look for new senior leadership

GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Preble girls basketball team is entering the 2025 season with a fresh look and a new energy after finishing 11-10 overall and 8-6 in the Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC), good for fourth place last season.

After graduating several long-time contributing seniors, the Hornets will rely on younger players to step into bigger roles while returning senior leadership looks to guide them along the way.

Head coach Lyndsey Seela said she’s eager to see how her underclassmen respond to the challenge of varsity play.

“When you lose a group of kids that have been together for a long time to graduation, you’re always excited to see what the younger kids are going to do,” Seela said. “Are they going to step in? Are they going to exceed? Are they going to shine a little bit brighter? So I’m really excited to see this team as a younger team kind of just put their nose around and get some work back for sure.”

Seela said one major focus has been maintaining defensive pressure — something the Hornets emphasized last year but struggled to sustain.

“Pressuring other teams was the one thing that we really were shooting for but just didn’t quite get there with the personnel we had,” she said. “This year, I think we have the quickness, the length and the speed to be able to maintain pressure on the defensive end and also be able to score the ball. So I’m excited about that this year.”

Preble will need new leaders to fill the roles left by graduates Jada Raeder, Shelly Gorecki and Brynn Beauchamp, who anchored the team’s communication and consistency. “We’re going to miss their vocalizations for sure and their presence on the court,” Seela said. “We’ve got some big shoes to fill, but I have no doubt that the kids behind me right now are going to step up.”

One of those players stepping up is senior point guard Sophie Smith, who’s focused on helping the team build chemistry with its younger roster.

“We have a lot of underclassmen that haven’t really connected with the previous varsity squad,” Smith said. “I’m just looking forward to getting to know the underclassmen and working together this season.”

Smith said that last year, Preble often took too long to find its rhythm in games, something she hopes changes this winter.

“We struggled a lot with coming out right away — it took us a while to settle in,” she said. “We were kind of a second-half team. This year, I really just want to come out right away in most games so we can get that lead and not have to work as hard in the second half.”

As she enters her final season, Smith said she’s determined to make the most of it.

“This is my last season, and I really just want to give my all,” she said. “I know I’m going to miss it, so I really just hope the team gives it their all, doesn’t slack off and really works during the season.”

The Hornets will open their 2025 regular season against Ashwaubenon on Thursday, Dec. 4, after 3 straight out of conference games against Freedom, Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Kohler.