DANVILLE – If the Danville girls basketball team is going to make another run to the regional bracket, it’s going to have to do it with a youth movement.
“This year, we’re fairly young,” Danville coach Matt Proper said. “We had five seniors that played a lot of basketball … especially with tournament runs. In the end, they probably played almost five seasons of basketball.
“Understanding our philosophies — it takes a while to understand those things. Just playing with each other, anticipation just becomes stronger — knowing each other’s strengths and what we’re going to do together as a team and what our philosophies are.”
Last year, the Blue Devils finished 19-8 overall, 10-4 in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference, with a second Division IV district championship in four years before falling to Fort Laramie 84-24 in a regional semifinal. They’ll have to replace Bobbi Berger, Abby Bower, Hannah Duncan, Erin Mickley and Cece Newbold.
“We’re pretty young since we lost all of our seniors,” senior guard Brooklyn Hess said. “Last year, we had the seniors, so I felt as if I didn’t really have to (lead). Since we have (a lot) of freshmen this year, I feel like I have to step it up a little bit.”
Hess, who stands at 5-foot-11, is quite literally one of Danville’s biggest threats this year. She remains the primary ball-handler for the Devils, though she plans to make her presence felt down low too.
“I feel like I can get more rebounds now; I feel like I’m quicker on my feet,” Hess said. “I’m more aggressive. Last year, I was kind of staying back, so my goal is to drive this year."
“When she gets going, she can get to the rim (pretty quickly) with her long strides,” Proper said. “When she’s inside the arc, she’s kinda there. And she’s a lefty, which makes it tricky for defenses.”
Also back are senior Rachel Wilson (5-6, wing/post) and juniors Alenah Boeshart (5-6, wing), Leahandria Hood (5-11, post) and Camie Newbold (5-8, post). All got varying degrees of varsity minutes last season. Along with Hess, Proper sees the group taking ownership as leaders.
“They’re kind of familiar faces and they’ll continue to contribute,” Proper said. “It’s neat to see them take control and take the leadership roles. That’s what we’ve seen so far. Their mentality has changed a little bit. Last year, they were role players. Now, their role is (as) leaders. That’s a good thing. You have to have that or else you kind of stall as a team.”
The Devils also have five freshmen in the program, and all five could see time with the varsity squad. They are Grace Gronberg (5-7, wing), Kylee Hess (5-3, guard), Ella Proper (5-6, guard), Broegan Staats (5-3, guard) and Jaylyn Smith (5-6, guard/wing).
“All five of them worked really hard in the offseason and have done everything we’ve asked of them,” Proper said. “We try to play as many of them as we can because we play such a high tempo — fast on offense and pressure on defense. So we need numbers to do that just to get through a game, conditioning-wise.”
