Blair High School girls basketball coach Matt Aschoff saw confidence within freshman Gueryn Kay on Monday during the Bears' Jamboree exhibition game at Arlington.
“We knew Gueryn could put it in the basket, but, tonight, she did a really, really good job of that,” he said.
The ninth-grader hit five 3-pointers in her BHS debut, including the game-winner as time expired. The 48-47 nailbiter won't show up on either Washington County teams' season record, but it was a thrilling way to start the 2023-24 season all the same.
“It was a ton of fun,” said first-year Eagles head coach Tashia Wolf. “It made it interesting, for sure.”
Bears have experience, youth
Aschoff's Bears expect to mix experience with young talent this winter.
“Our first morning practice, Monday morning, we said, 'When you step on this court, grade doesn't mean anything to us,'” he explained after the exhibition win in Arlington.
True to his words, Kay tied for the team lead in scoring against the Eagles. The ninth-grader had 15 points as did junior Addie Sullivan, who earned All-Eastern Midlands Conference honors with a 12-points-per-game average a year ago. Freshman Kaitlynn O'Neil had seven points, too, while seniors Joslyn Polikcy and Leah Chance combined for seven.
Sophomores Kate Wulf and Ally Sullivan added a bucket apiece, too.
“These younger girls have some speed. I think they have some competitiveness,” Aschoff said. “The older girls have embraced that and allowed it to push everyone.”
Despite losing multiple key pieces from their 2022 state tournament team, the Bears still finished last winter 14-10 overall. They return four starters and seven letter winners from that roster, but will also be bolstered by their aforementioned youth.
“I think everyone got in tonight, which is great,” Aschoff said. “I don't know if they always will, but, if we play how we kind of want to play, we know we're going to have a deep bench.”
The freshmen — Kay, O'Neil, Laynie Brown and Taytym Macholan among them — spent time playing with the varsity players during the summer and appeared comfortable going against Class C AHS. They ran with their teammates offensively and applied full-court pressure aggressively.
“Not every press is going to lead to a turnover, but we just want to, if we can, get them tired,” Aschoff said.
Seniors Marin Sather, Policky and Chance may lead Blair's way this season, but they'll have help.
“I thought our young girls stepped up,” Aschoff said. “We only have five total juniors and seniors, so we're going to need to have some sophomores and freshmen step up and I thought they did well for their first game.”
The Bears open the season 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at Omaha Mercy before a 2:30 p.m. Dec. 2 game at Ralston. Their home opener is 5:30 p.m. Dec. 5 against Waverly.
AHS builds excitement for new season
Britt Nielsen and Macy Wolf combined for three made free throws across the final 16.1 seconds of Monday's exhibition game.
The points gave Arlington a 47-45 lead before Kay hit the game-winning shot for BHS. Still, coach Wolf, who takes over after serving as an assistant during last winter's 13-9 campaign, was in good spirits after the Eagles took their Class B neighbors to the limit.
“I think they're excited with the way that they played,” she said of her team. “They're excited for what's to come.”
Overall, AHS returns all five starters — Taylor Arp, Nielsen, Libby Hegemann, Wolf and Emme Timm — as well as three key bench contributors — Valeria Carvajal, Austyn Flesner and Hailey O'Daniel. Timm, a sophomore point guard, earned All-Nebraska Capitol Conference first-team honors last season, while Nielsen was a second-teamer. They combined for 28 points Monday, while Wolf added 12 of her own, too.
“Coming in we had five things we wanted to really work on,” coach Wolf said. She wanted her team to play hard, take advantage of the opportunity to compete, limit turnovers, finish strong and rebound.
The coach said the Eagles succeeded, though they did turn the ball over early against BHS as they attempted to play fast — another team goal this year.
Wolf felt her squad improved, however, as the game went on. They kept pushing the tempo, but did so with discipline, avoiding turnovers.
“I think they learned that as the game went on and realized that they can do both,” she said. “There was a lot of opportunities there toward the end.”
There will be even more chances for Arlington to improve on last year's finish once the season officially starts. The Eagles open at West Point-Beemer on Nov. 30 before a 2:30 p.m. Dec. 2 home game against Columbus Lakeview.
Wolf knows her squad is looking forward to it especially with how it played against the Bears.
“The talk in the locker room at the very end was, 'If that's how our first game is going to go, think about what our second game is going to be,” she said.
HS BASKETBALL LINE SCORE
Monday Exhibition
Blair 48, Arlington 47
BHS 13 12 10 13 — 48
AHS 13 13 9 12 — 47
Scoring: BHS — Gueryn Kay 15, Addie Sullivan 15, Kaitlynn O'Neil 7, Joslyn Policky 4, Leah Chance 3, Ally Sullivan 2, Kate Wulf 2.
AHS — Britt Nielsen 15, Emme Timm 13, Macy Wolf 12, Libby Hegemann 3, Hailey O'Daniel 2, Taylor Arp 2.
