Girls basketball: Bureau Valley returns experience, most of its scoring

MANLIUS - The Bureau Valley Storm girls basketball team brings back six experienced varsity players with the addition of a promising freshman for what promises to be a successful season this year.

Returning from last year’s 15-16 season (9-3 Three Rivers East) are seniors Kate Salisbury, Kate Stoller, Lynzie Cady and Ryley Egan and juniors Taylor Neuhalfen and Lesleigh Maynard.

“We return all the scoring for the most part. We’ll have a hole on defense in the middle without Alaina (6-foot center Wasilewski) out there with her length. The girls are going to have to get the ball up and down the court and put a little more pressure on the ball,” BV coach Matt Wasilewski said.

The season tips off at the Princeton Holiday Tournament at 6:30 p.m. tonight against Henry-Senachwine.

“We are very excited to start the season. Our team has very high expectations for this year,” Salisbury said. “We set a lot of personal goals and team goals that we hope to achieve. I personally think we will be very successful this year, especially since everyone is returning and we only lost two seniors last year. I hope we can make it a memorable season for us seniors and I know we can do good things this year.”

One thing that’s stuck out in the first two weeks of practice, Wasilewski said, is their shooting.

“They’re shooting well. This is the best I’ve seen the program shoot the ball since I’ve been here. This is year six (in the program),” he said. “And defensively, they know what to do. They’ve all been in the system a number of years and know how to play defense. It’s been really productive so far.”

The two Kates combined for 22.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.1 steals and 2.6 assists between them last year. Salisbury, the Storm’s point guard, was unanimously named Three Rivers East All-Conference, averaging 13.8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 1.2 assists. Stoller, a second-team Three Rivers East All-Conference pick last year, averaged 9.8 points and 4.8 rebounds with team-highs for steals (2.1) and assists (1.4).

They should have plenty of help offensively.

The Storm coach looks for Neuhalfen to continue her late season scoring surge from last year and looks for Cady and Maynard to step up their scoring.

“We’re hoping (Maynard) shoots the ball more. She’s worked on her shot as much as anybody in the program. And of course, she’s super good defensively,” he said. “Lindsey has a beautiful shot. She just has to actually shoot the ball. We’ve talked a lot about it this year. "

The Storm are also looking for some scoring punch from freshman Libby Endress. Wasielewski is anxious see how her game translates to the high school level.

“She can score. She’s got a scorer’s mentality. It’s a lot different having a Lesleigh Maynard or Riley Egan guarding you 1 on 1. Now it’s a little bit tougher. She’s finding that out,” he said. “She keeps working. She’s really a likeable young lady. Her teammates like her. She’s very humble, quiet and soaking it all in. Hopefully, she’ll be able to provide us some assistance.”

Salisbury welcomes the addition of Endress.

“I think Libby is going to help us tremendously,” she said. “She is another threat on offense and she is a great shooter. She is very smart on the court and she knows when to shoot the ball and when to pass it. She is going to help us add more points to the board every game. Not only can she score, she is a huge help on defense. She is very quick and she hustles after every ball.”

Junior Izabella Birkey along with sophomores Abby Jamison, Ashlyn Maupin, Emma Musche, Madison Wetzell, Emily Wright and Alivia Zemke round out the varsity roster.

“The girls are setting some pretty big sights for themselves. They’d like to compete for the conference title and see where they are come regional time. Maybe even compete for a regional title,” Wasilewski said. “I think we’ll be able to score. Will we be able to stop teams? We won’t have a lot of size. So that’s going to have to be one of things we work on. How to defend the post. How to stop teams from scoring inside.

“One of the things we want to do is get to the line. We were a really good free throw shooting team last year and the girls want to do that again this year.”