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Huskie hoops hope speed compensates for lack of size
  
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By Benn Farrell
The lady Huskies may not have a lot of size, but they are hoping their speed carries them far.
Douglas County High School girls basketball is heavily junior laden this season with two seniors and two sophomores filling out the varsity roster.
One of those seniors, however, is Katie Hilbig, a first-team All-Conference honoree last year with All-State honorable mention as well. She led the Continental League in scoring and rebounding and was second in scoring state wide in Class 5A. She was the top rebounder in the state last season as well.
While Hilbig has grown in size and skill, she has also grown her plans for the future. The County senior recently signed a national letter of intent to continue playing hoops for the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
“I’m so excited,” Hilbig said. “I always planned on having that taken care of, cause I didn’t want to be thinking about that my senior year. I have more important things to be worried about at the moment, so I just have to be worrying about my high school team.”
Also returning to the planks this season among the junior class is Katherine Drake and Amanda Garton. Drake was honorable mention All-Conference last year and presently holds the school’s record for most three-pointers in a season.
“I think our biggest outside threat is Katherine. She’s an amazing outside shooter. Perimeter and speed is going to help us out a lot this year,” Garton said.
Garton, a starter who holds the school’s single season assist record, said the team’s junior class, which also includes Gracie Rennecker, Linda Alexander, Megan Carter and Jessica Pederson, knows its strengths and weaknesses well, which helps their team concept.
“We’re really good at knowing where each is on the court. We have a lot of consistency,” she said.
Huskies coach Chris Honeck, in his fourth year at County, said their bench has more depth this season than in recent years. The team’s speed and athleticism should be noticeable this time around.
Last year, County finished the season 12-12 overall, 6-6 in the league with a seventh place finish. The Huskies went home after the first round of the 5A state tournament after a loss to Eaglecrest.
Honeck said due to the team’s size, some strategies may be different. He said during the team’s fall league action, they played more man-to-man on defense, so we’d figures there will be a mix of coverage for the winter high school schedule.
Hilbig also saw more action during the off season, including summer club ball.
“I hadn’t played club ball since about the eighth grade. I got to play with the Hoopsters, so we got to travel all over. And it was a really good team, so it was a fun experience,” Hilbig said. “It helped me come back [to high school] as a better player.”
Another strength the Huskies bring with them is conditioning, Hilbig said.
“We have two people over six foot, but our strengths are definitely going to be defense, cause we’re going to get up in their shorts with our quickness,” the AFA Falcons-bound senior said. “We have some offenses and defenses put in place. We should just rely on our coaching, and it should work.”
Like in past years, the Huskies are expected to be a scrappy team with focus and desire, Honeck said; however, the teams biggest goals are correcting its weaknesses from last season.
“Finishing our shots was a weakness for us last year,” Honeck said. “Everything would work perfectly to get the shots off, but we just didn’t cash them in like we wanted.”
With Drake leading, Honeck said the team has 4-5 players who can threaten from outside.
“It’s tough [for opponents] to key in on just Katherine when there’s so many kids outside the perimeter,” the coach said.
Although the team lost what Honeck described as a big piece of glue in Lyssa Roberts, Hilbig is a key player for the team’s system. And the tools for success are standing around her.
“The pieces are here,” Honeck said. “When I got here, the cupboard was pretty bare. Now, we’ve got quite a few kids to work with.”
Carter and Pederson are two junior varsity players from last year who could jump up for the Huskies in any given game after having a solid summer of hoops. Rennecker was split between JV and varsity last year. The coach said they are expecting Alexander to do big things as well.
“Katherine definitely is our huge offensive threat. She’s a great shooter,” Garton said. “We’re really strong inside the post. Katie Hilbig helps with that as a senior. Gracie and Linda also offer a lot.”
Honeck said Huskies fans should be please with the hard work they’ll see from this team. The program began early weight room work outs on Aug. 18, with most of the girls hitting weights 1-2 times a week through the fall sports season.
Another goal for the season is to better the team’s seventh place finish.
“We think we can do better if we stay healthy,” Honeck said. “We’ve already lost three kids for the season.”
“We have a really good league, so top three or top four would be pretty good, considering who is in our league,” Hilbig said. “We’ve kind of not done so well in past year in the post-season, but I think we can go farther and deeper this year. That’s one of the main goals that we have.”
The Huskies’ schedule should also help toughen the girls up. Outside of non-league games against hefty 4A teams, County is hitting the road against some of Nevada’s best teams in tournament action in Reno the middle of December.
“The season has a lot of potential,” Honeck said. “We’re pretty excited about it.”
Douglas County High School girls basketball is heavily junior laden this season with two seniors and two sophomores filling out the varsity roster.
One of those seniors, however, is Katie Hilbig, a first-team All-Conference honoree last year with All-State honorable mention as well. She led the Continental League in scoring and rebounding and was second in scoring state wide in Class 5A. She was the top rebounder in the state last season as well.
While Hilbig has grown in size and skill, she has also grown her plans for the future. The County senior recently signed a national letter of intent to continue playing hoops for the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
“I’m so excited,” Hilbig said. “I always planned on having that taken care of, cause I didn’t want to be thinking about that my senior year. I have more important things to be worried about at the moment, so I just have to be worrying about my high school team.”
Also returning to the planks this season among the junior class is Katherine Drake and Amanda Garton. Drake was honorable mention All-Conference last year and presently holds the school’s record for most three-pointers in a season.
“I think our biggest outside threat is Katherine. She’s an amazing outside shooter. Perimeter and speed is going to help us out a lot this year,” Garton said.
Garton, a starter who holds the school’s single season assist record, said the team’s junior class, which also includes Gracie Rennecker, Linda Alexander, Megan Carter and Jessica Pederson, knows its strengths and weaknesses well, which helps their team concept.
“We’re really good at knowing where each is on the court. We have a lot of consistency,” she said.
Huskies coach Chris Honeck, in his fourth year at County, said their bench has more depth this season than in recent years. The team’s speed and athleticism should be noticeable this time around.
Last year, County finished the season 12-12 overall, 6-6 in the league with a seventh place finish. The Huskies went home after the first round of the 5A state tournament after a loss to Eaglecrest.
Honeck said due to the team’s size, some strategies may be different. He said during the team’s fall league action, they played more man-to-man on defense, so we’d figures there will be a mix of coverage for the winter high school schedule.
Hilbig also saw more action during the off season, including summer club ball.
“I hadn’t played club ball since about the eighth grade. I got to play with the Hoopsters, so we got to travel all over. And it was a really good team, so it was a fun experience,” Hilbig said. “It helped me come back [to high school] as a better player.”
Another strength the Huskies bring with them is conditioning, Hilbig said.
“We have two people over six foot, but our strengths are definitely going to be defense, cause we’re going to get up in their shorts with our quickness,” the AFA Falcons-bound senior said. “We have some offenses and defenses put in place. We should just rely on our coaching, and it should work.”
Like in past years, the Huskies are expected to be a scrappy team with focus and desire, Honeck said; however, the teams biggest goals are correcting its weaknesses from last season.
“Finishing our shots was a weakness for us last year,” Honeck said. “Everything would work perfectly to get the shots off, but we just didn’t cash them in like we wanted.”
With Drake leading, Honeck said the team has 4-5 players who can threaten from outside.
“It’s tough [for opponents] to key in on just Katherine when there’s so many kids outside the perimeter,” the coach said.
Although the team lost what Honeck described as a big piece of glue in Lyssa Roberts, Hilbig is a key player for the team’s system. And the tools for success are standing around her.
“The pieces are here,” Honeck said. “When I got here, the cupboard was pretty bare. Now, we’ve got quite a few kids to work with.”
Carter and Pederson are two junior varsity players from last year who could jump up for the Huskies in any given game after having a solid summer of hoops. Rennecker was split between JV and varsity last year. The coach said they are expecting Alexander to do big things as well.
“Katherine definitely is our huge offensive threat. She’s a great shooter,” Garton said. “We’re really strong inside the post. Katie Hilbig helps with that as a senior. Gracie and Linda also offer a lot.”
Honeck said Huskies fans should be please with the hard work they’ll see from this team. The program began early weight room work outs on Aug. 18, with most of the girls hitting weights 1-2 times a week through the fall sports season.
Another goal for the season is to better the team’s seventh place finish.
“We think we can do better if we stay healthy,” Honeck said. “We’ve already lost three kids for the season.”
“We have a really good league, so top three or top four would be pretty good, considering who is in our league,” Hilbig said. “We’ve kind of not done so well in past year in the post-season, but I think we can go farther and deeper this year. That’s one of the main goals that we have.”
The Huskies’ schedule should also help toughen the girls up. Outside of non-league games against hefty 4A teams, County is hitting the road against some of Nevada’s best teams in tournament action in Reno the middle of December.
“The season has a lot of potential,” Honeck said. “We’re pretty excited about it.”
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