New Year, Same Expectations
During the 2012-13 school year Talawanda has had one sports team to be very proud of, women’s basketball.
With an impressive 14-0 record in the Southwestern Ohio Conference last year, and even more impressive regular season record of 21-0, this lady’s team has given Talawanda a lot to cheer about over the past year.
According to Kim Richter, head coach of the Talawanda women’s basketball team, her first goal as a coach is “to love them, and their first goal as a team is to love each other. With that success will come,” she said.
This past season the students at talawanda were given a strong feeling of pride in their school and, more specifically, the girl’s basketball team. The team put up such a strong record, and had an incredible off season giving students bragging rights.
This year, however, it’s a new season. Talawanda has grown with incoming students, but has also shrank with the loss of last year’s seniors.
Brilyn and Bristyl Webb were a huge part of Talawanda’s offense last year, and were ranked third and fifth in the league in assists. The Webb sisters were a part of most of Talawanda’s scoring possessions.
“Defensively, these two girls were key.” said Richter. They were also the team’s main offensive leaders, which could leave a hole in Talawanda’s offense, that is Richter expects to be filled.
However, with losing these two girls, two new young ladies have stepped through the door. Junior Chloe Wright and freshman Emma Wright are both new to the Talawanda school district. The father of these two girls recently got the job of the new Women’s Basketball head coach at Miami University.
Richter knows the expectations for the team this year are large. “With the players we have returning and the new players we have coming in, I’m very confident the team will be successful,” she said. The team hopes to turn that confidence in to accomplishment and take over the SWOC once again.“Wilmington and Little Miami are both very good teams,” said Richter.
Talawanda’s closest league game last year was against Mt. Healthy whom they defeated 41-35. This year Mt. Healthy has a new coach, “Coach Purcell will have to go scout their team and their new coach,” Richter said. Other than that the team does not intend to treat them any different than any other league game.
The expected star of this year’s team is senior Ana Richter. Last season Richter led the team in rebounds, third in the league in steals, she also had the highest PPG (points per game) and field goal percentage on the team. Richter is going to play basketball at Miami University next year.
The team is looking forward to the upcoming season, and are excited about their chances. There was a sad end for the team last winter, but they hope to change that this year and keep up the hype that has been talked of them.
