Menu
Gales lone returning sophomore
After struggling to put a team on the court at the end of last season, finishing the year with just six players available, Fort Scott Community College second-year women's basketball head coach Katie Reihmann is pretty much starting over again this season.
After a 3-0 start, injuries, eligibility issues and disciplinary measures trimmed the roster down to the point where softball and volleyball players came on board to help out and the Greyhounds won just one more game the rest of the season in finishing 4-27.
This year, only Malori Gales (5' 9", Soph., Lyndon) returns to the roster as Reihmann will go with 11 freshmen as she looks to build the program.
"Last year was a lot of learning for me," Reihmann said Monday morning. "I think it was a lot about finding the kind of players to fit my program and the style and I want to run here. Being able to get the program where it needed to be. And I think last year's team did a great job with who we had and what we had, and phenomenally so with only six players most of the time and some nights just five. But we had a disadvantage with height, disadvantage with positions everywhere on the court. It taught me how to utilize players in different positions in case of injuries and mismatches. That helped me the most and being able to very versatile as a coach."
And if one is going to build a team around one returning player, Gales is a good one to pick. She averaged 10.3 points per game, which was 12th among the Division II players in Region VI. She was seventh in the Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division in free-throw percentage (66.9), 10th in 3-pointers made (1.5 per game), seventh in steals (2.13) and ninth in defensive rebounds (4.80).
"She's done a great job this fall of really teaching the freshmen how we do things in our program and the expectations of the program and where it's going.," Reihmann says. "And she's really taken on that leadership role really well and done an amazing job."
Gales is a "2 guard," of if prefer the older vernacular, a shooting guard. But though she's experience and will be a team leader, the competition among the freshmen is such that she's not necessarily guaranteed to start.
"It's fun that they're making it tough for me," Reihmann said. "I love that they're competing every day. They are making it tough for me to figure out who's going to be where and who's going to get playing time. I love that thought process and having to deal with that. It's a good thing. It's a challenge but I like having that challenge any day."
One of Reihmann's objectives in recruiting was to get more height. To that end, she's brought in Carlie Wilhelmi, a 6' 2" center from Center Point, Iowa, and Jessica McAdams, a 6' 1" post from Miller, Mo. Also coming in are Baylea White, a 5' 10" forward from Jayhawk-Linn High School, and Makayla Cole, a 5' 10" forward from Burlington. Reihmann also has two guards that she feels can help out down low in Taylor Hauser (5' 11", Valdosta, Ga.) and Hayley Dellinger (5' 9", Gardner-Edgerton).
"I wanted to find some posts who could sit down low and post up and go tough," Reihmann said. "In our conference and in our region, we need size. We have some 4's down on the block. And then I have a couple of guards who can go in the post. We'll be a lot more physical this year."
Competing with Gales for backcourt positions are Sierra Shoulders (5' 4", Olive, Okla.), Denise Levine (5' 6", San Antonio, Texas), Andrea Valdez (5' 7", El Dorado), Emily Feldman (5' 7", Prairie View), and Amanda Cicero (5' 8", Frontenac). Valdez and Cicero are listed as point guards, Levine and Feldman are listed as "2 guards," while Shoulders can play either position.
"We have a lot of guards," Reihmann says. "And that's a position where I don't know who's going to be the starters yet and it's Monday of the first game week. That's because they're still competing. That's how many guards we have who can play this year. Malori's doing well in the shooting guard spot but she's having to compete every single day to keep that spot."
The season begins Friday night as the Greyhounds host the Jim Gladbach Classic at Arnold Arena. Johnson County, Wentworth Military Academy and the William Penn University junior varsity will also be in the classic.
Friday's games will feature Johnson County against Wentworth Military at 6 p.m. and Fort Scott versus the William Penn JV at 8 p.m. Saturday afternoon's doubleheader will have Johnson County against William Penn at 2 and Fort Scott taking on Wentworth Military at 4.
Reihmann is ready to see her team play in games that count.
"I think we have a height advantage this year against some teams," Reihmann said. "I'm excited to have that and be able to use it against some teams. We definitely have a lot of speed and quickness we can use. And we have some scoring, which we had been lacking. We've been scoring a lot more (in jamborees). And I want to get out running and scoring a lot more."
And speaking of games that count, there is a new division structure this season in the Jayhawk Conference. The Division II schools -- Fort Scott, Johnson County, Kansas City and Highland -- have been placed in their own division, which has been named "Eastern Division II." This means that the Greyhound schedule has been changed dramatically. They will play those four teams twice in conference play. Those games also count toward post-season seeding in Region VI Division II along with home-and-home series against independents Brown Mackie and Hesston.
The Greyhounds will still play Labette, Allen and Neosho County. But Cowley, Coffeyville and Independence are no longer on the schedule.
"I think it'll be a unique and different year because it's the first time," Reihmann said about the new scheduling format. " It gives us a good chance, especially in the region, to really compete and challenge for home court in the first round (of the playoffs), so I think it will be really good for us this year."
NOTES -- Due to the new division structure, the Eastern Division -- which now includes Butler in order to balance out the divisions which include the state's 15 remaining Division I schools -- has no defending champion. That's because Johnson County finished a game ahead of Cowley last season with Highland in third place....
Johnson County is ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA Division II pre-season poll while Highland is No. 8....
Division I in Kansas still includes 16 schools -- the seven in the East, the eight in the Western Division and independent Northwest Kansas Tech. NKTC will be the No. 5 seed in the East for playoff purposes but can not host a playoff game even if it's one of the higher-remaining seeds in the second round....
2013-14 FORT SCOTT COMMUNITY
COLLEGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Bold -- Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division II games.
Italics -- Games that count toward Region VI Division II post-season seeding.
Friday........WILLIAM PENN JV, 8 p.m. (a)
Saturday...WENTWORTH MILITARY, 2 p.m. (a)
Nov. 12............ALLEN, 5:30
Nov. 14.........OTTAWA JV, 6:30
Nov. 16......at North Central Mo., 2 p.m.
Nov. 18.....................COTTEY, 5:30
Nov. 20.............at Neosho County, 5:30
Nov. 24......vs. Des Moines Area, 2 p.m. (b)
Nov. 25.....vs. William Penn JV, 5:30 (b)
Dec. 3................at Allen, 6 p.m.
Dec. 6.............at Cottey, 6 p.m.
Dec. 9.............NEOSHO COUNTY, 5:30
Dec. 11...................LABETTE, 5:30
Dec. 14...at Wentworth Military, 1 p.m.
Jan. 4-5....at Louisiana State-Eunice Classic
Jan. 12......at Central Methodist JV, TBA
Jan. 15.......................at Labette, 5:30
Jan. 17........MISSOURI VALLEY JV, 6 p.m.
Jan. 22.......................HIGHLAND, 5:30
Jan. 25............at Brown Mackie, 1 p.m.
Jan. 29......................at Hesston, 6 p.m.
Feb. 1.............JOHNSON COUNTY, 2 p.m.
Feb. 5........................KANSAS CITY, 5:30
Feb. 8........NORTH CENTRAL MO., 2 p.m.
Feb. 12...............at Highland, 5:30
Feb. 15..............BROWN MACKIE, 2 p.m.
Feb. 19..............................HESSTON, 5:30
Feb. 22........at Johnson County, 2 p.m.
Feb. 25................at Kansas City, 5 p.m.
(a) -- Fort Scott Jim Gladbach Classic.
(b) -- Iowa Western Revier Classic.