The numbers of those out for HMS Girls Basketball are down at the high school level. “We’ll be at 14 with seven of them freshmen,” noted Hawk head coach Lester Tessum. “A pretty young squad.” But fear not, Hawk fans, there is a silver lining. “I think we’re deeper this year than the last couple years even though the group is half freshmen,” observed the coach.
This season’s returning starters were the only Hawks to earn letters last year. They are seniors Lydia Harders and Jasmine Lux and juniors Elise Haack and Emily Mutombo.
Filling our the current edition are senior Emily Otto, sophomore Abby Otto and freshmen Abby Douma, Gracie Knobloch, Frankie Mohni, Kylee Schiphoff and Eliza Tewes. Slated for the junior varsity are sophomore Kayla Kathman and freshmen Kamryn Ebel and Addy Sheeler.
Tessum, who is joined by assistant coach Jenni Van Otterloo, addressed the positives and negatives with respect to the lack of numbers. The plus side is represented by more playing time for the girls, whether it be JV or varsity. Said the coach, “It’s easier to get girls on the floor. You only play so many games a season and that way, with lesser numbers, your girls are going to get more quarters.” There is a flip side as Tessum remarked, “If you run into a bunch of injuries and things like that, having less numbers can be a bit of a problem.”
Despite the shortage of bodies, there was no shortage of work put in by those bodies during the offseason, “We had open gym two days a week and we worked on ball handling, shooting and then, with a large group of freshmen, we tried to teach them some of the offenses so that coming into the season you’re not spending so much time just learning the offenses,” said Tessum. “I think it’s had an impact. I think our girls are more aggressive with the ball, more confident. I think it will show on the court.”
In part because of that offseason work, the coach has some flexibility when it comes to offensive scheme. “I think that the group we have this year, we can run about any type of offense, whether it be a flex or on ball screen,” Tessum commented. “I think we can run pretty much anything. We have the ball handlers and enough size in the post to be able to do that.”
Pressure will be a component of the HMS defense. “We’ll run the 2-3 extended,” noted the coach. “I think we’re going to work into a little full-court press. I think we’ll have enough ball handlers and quickness to press and hopefully get a few turnovers. I think it’ll be a good season for that.”
There will be pressure applied by opponents as well and Tessum cited the key to his team handling that harrassment. “As long as we don’t get impatient with the ball we do pretty well,” stated the coach. “When we get impatient and try to make a tough pass then we lose it. So we’re teaching that patience-with-the-ball, they-aren’t-scoring-if-we’ve-got-it type of attitude and I think we’ll do fine.”
When it comes to putting the ball in the basket, Tessum expects the offseason work to assist in the continuance of a recent trend in accuracy. “The last two years we’ve increased the percentage of shooting a little bit each year and I think that will take another jump this year,” the coach commented.
There will be shots that don’t go in and Tessum sees his charges actively going after those caroms. “I think we’ll be very strong offensive rebounders,” said the Hawk head man. “The post play we have, they’re really wanting to rebound. Our guards are getting in there and working hard for it so I think, when the ball goes up, we’ll be going for rebounds. There’s no doubt in my mind. I preach that a lot. In fact, when I run an offense I structure for rebounds – where you end up is in a rebound position so all you have to do is look up and grab it.”
The athleticism that will help the Hawks with all of this is being improved through the use of weights. “I want them lifting twice a week minimum,” said Tessum. “That doesn’t mean you’re in there power lifting trying to strain muscles. That means you’re maintaining and slowly building muscle tone. We’re trying to build an athlete. I encourage that. All season long I’ll be talking (to the team) about the weight room.”
The schedule again presents a stern test for the Hawks. “The War Eagle’s a tough conference,” observed Tessum. “There’s no gimme games. Any night you’ve got to come out and play your best, I don’t care who you’re playing.” The coach expects MMCRU and Unity Christian to be top teams in the loop and predicts improvement from a well-coached Remsen St. Mary’s team which last season took a number of freshmen into battle. Tessum was willing to offer a prognostication in regard to his own team. “I think we’ll finish someplace in the middle,” offered the coach.
When asked about goals for this season, Tessum began with the obvious. “Everybody wants to win,” he said. “There’s none of us that play the game and try not to win.” He then added another goal specific to this team: “For this group being as young as they are I would say: come together on the court, becoming a team. When you bring that many freshmen into a group it’s a lot of learning going on. And so coming together as a team to really become a team would be a real good goal for this year for this group.”
There are also goals set out for the girls to achieve on a game-by-game basis. “We pick something out pretty much every game and try to get better at that, whatever it is,” explaned Tessum.
Although the merging together as a team is a work in progress, Tessum notes that the freshmen come in displaying knowledge of the game. “They know how it’s played, know where to be so, yeah, they’re a fun group for me to coach just because of somebody else’s efforts ahead of me,” said the coach. “The freshmen went to a lot of camps and a lot of tournaments. These freshmen have played a lot of basketball and you can tell. That’s parents being involved and getting in there and really working it.”
Tessum concluded by stating, “I’m really proud of all the girls. They’ve done everything I’ve asked.”