Published: November 11, 2009 11:08 am      

Lady Redskins open at home Thursday

A good dose of mental toughness is needed before Goshen High School’s basketball ladies entertain thoughts of bigger numbers in the victory column.

The Lady Redskins, guided by seventh-year head coach Lenny Krebs, open the season at home Thursday night against South Bend Riley.

“We must be better at handling fatigue and also those runs by opponents,” said Krebs. “Everyone must do the little things correctly for us to have a successful season.”

Seniors Lauren Shaffer and Olivia Zepeda, juniors Natalie Newell and Lauren Riegsecker are returning letterwinners for the Lady Redskins.

Newell led the team in scoring last winter with 182 points while Shaffer tallied 122, Zepeda 72 and Riegsecker 43. Shaffer was 33-for-94 from 3-point range, scoring just a single 2-pointer.

Newell, for awhile, thought about not playing basketball this season to concentrate on softball as she is one of the state’s top pitchers being recruited by NCAA Division I powers.

“Softball coaches actually encouraged Natalie to play basketball, so that lifted a load off her,” revealed Krebs. “She has been so free in practice and our scrimmage where she scored 24 points.

“Not having Natalie over the summer forced some of our others players to step it up and that should help the team.”

Others listed as varsity players are juniors Amber Stevenson, Maranda Reed, Meghan Neff and exchange student Lidia Vilumbrales from Spain; sophomores Liana Yoder, Yesenia Montanez and Hailey Warrick; freshmen Aimee Swihart and Ali Peters.

Some will also see JV duty along with sophomores Diamond Kelly and Makayla Holden.

“This is our third week of practice and I am pleased where we are,” said Krebs. “We have put in a new offensive system to better fit our players and make use of their talents.

“We have an abundance of players on the perimeter and this offense is trying to open up the middle more. We need Olivia Zepeda to look for mismatches and get to the basket.”

Krebs’ seven-player varsity rotation now features Shaffer, Riegsecker, Newell, Zepeda, Stevenson, Neff and Swihart.

“Riegsecker is our primary ball-handler, but we have Swihart coming off the bench. Everyone must be able to handle the ball to take pressure off one. We need constant motion to open up the post.

“We are not tall, which is nothing new for Goshen. We can use that to our advantage on defense where we want to pressure the ball. This group is catching on to that scheme.”

Freshman team players are Ana Bizarro, Morgan Neff, Shaneka Felder, Courtney Wengerd, Brandi Morehouse, Alexis Ponce, Karina Flore and Emily Niswander.

Assistant coaches are Jack Beer, Matt Carpenter, Natalie Yoder and Joe Wharton.

Student managers are Ana Marin, Kenny Ruiz and Ester Henriquez.

Goshen hosts a holiday tournament Saturday, Jan. 2, with Bowman Academy, Northridge and DeKalb.

GHS schedule