Girls basketball: Experience, hunger driving Dixon in 2022-23

DIXON – As perennial front-runners in the Big Northern Conference, the Dixon Duchesses are looking to add to their résumé this winter – and they have just the experienced roster to do it.

Eight of the 11 players on the Duchesses’ varsity roster to start the season were on the roster and got some playing time a year ago, and the group has formed a bond throughout summer and offseason workouts.

“It helps a lot having five good leaders on the team that are starting, and it just brings everyone together,” senior forward Harvest Day said. “We all just love spending time together; we’ve experienced it this summer, when we spent almost every second together. And now that we’re starting the season, we’re spending all of our time together again. We’re just building our relationships and we’re creating those bonds that are going to help us go farther in the season.”

Day is one of five seniors who saw plenty of action last season. Day and Ella Govig were the main presences down low, while Abby and Kait Knipple both started games throughout the season. Hannah Steinmeyer was a defensive force off the bench in the backcourt.

Day averaged 11.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game as a second-team all-BNC performer last year, and Govig averaged 11.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

That experience and production, combined with juniors Nora Fordham, Katie Drew and Jessie Pitman – who all spent time on the varsity last season as sophomores – provide a strong foundation on which to build.

“We’ve got a lot of kids that do have a lot of experience, big-game experience, and have played together for a long, long time. And we just have a lot of kids that work hard and enjoy playing together,” Dixon coach Luke Ravlin said. “Anytime you have that, you feel blessed as a coach, and we like where we’re at.”

The biggest task of the backcourt players will be replacing the production of Sam Tourtillott and Rylee Pfoutz, two three-year varsity players who have gone on to play at the collegiate level.

Tourtillott was a first-team all-BNC pick last season, and led the Duchesses in scoring (12.0 points per game), assists (4.3 per game) and steals (2.4 per game), and also pulled down 4.3 rebounds per game as the point guard. Pfoutz provided solid defense and a deft shooting touch from the perimeter, and averaged 7.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

But that’s where the experience of Steinmeyer and the Knipple twins will come in handy.

“It’ll definitely be cool to have more playing time,” Steinmeyer said with a smile. “We’re really hard workers, we’ve watched Sam and Rylee and we kind of look up to them, and were able to see what works for them and kind of try to take that into our own game.

“We’re definitely ready for that challenge, and being a team that’s worked together for a long time, we know each other well and we just work really well together, and that will help.”

The other big spot to fill will be down low with the departure of Elle Jarrett. Despite only playing half of last season after missing her entire junior year due to injury in 2020-21, Jarrett was a solid force on the glass and in the low post, and she averaged 6.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

But Pitman was one of the main players tasked with filling in for Jarrett during the first part of the season, and Day believes that experience coupled with the return of herself and Govig will help pick up that slack in the paint.

“I think since we know that we lost a few strong people, we’re all just ready to work and show everyone that even though we lost those strong players, we’re going to win,” Day said. “We have that different mindset, and we’re ready to work and do whatever it takes to win.”

For Dixon (27-6, 6-3 BNC in 2021-22), it starts on the defensive end. With quick, athletic guards who can pressure the ball, as well as tough and skilled players in the post, the Duchesses’ game plan usually revolves around limiting their opponent’s scoring as opposed to trying to outscore them.

Offensively, Dixon thrives in its half-court sets, and will often shorten the game by spending a minute or two on the offensive end working to get that perfect shot. The selfless nature of the players is key to that style of attack.

“I’d say we’re a really strong team defensively. We work on it a lot in practice, and everybody takes it to heart. I think we’ll do really well again this year,” Steinmeyer said. “I think we have a really strong group of girls, and everybody’s here to work hard. Nobody is selfish on the team, we’re a very bonded team, and I think that’s going to help us do really well this year.”

Atop the list of goals are conference and regional titles, and Steinmeyer thinks the Duchesses can go even farther than that. Day agrees, and says the team has a lot of confidence that little tweaks here and there will be big difference-makers when it comes to wins and losses.

“We have the same mindset, and we have the same sayings in our mind. But we’re doing different things that will take us farther than we have been in the past seasons,” Day said. “We haven’t gotten that regional championship, that sectional championship, and we want to get those, so we’re making those slight changes that’ll take us farther.”

Ravlin believes that consistently being in the hunt for conference championships year in and year out, as well as playing in regional title games the past four years where a postseason was held, will have positive effects down the road – and gives this year’s team the hunger to achieve those goals.

“I think sometimes you have to have those experiences and get that close in order to get to where you want to go. So I think just having that experience will help,” he said. “The other thing that I think helps this group is they’ve had a lot of time together over the years to grow and gel, and they’re all really committed to trying to take that next step for themselves, and for all the Duchesses that came before them.”