Schuyler girls basketball focus on strength, games in summer

Schuyler girls basketball returned to the gym this summer looking to build on an experienced core.

The Warriors competed in the Mead team camp on June 11 while also competing in games out of state on their trip up to Minnesota.

On July 2, incoming Huskers freshman and Elkhorn North graduate Britt Prince led an open gym with the team.

“Summer’s been going good,” Schuyler head coach Jason Wehner said. “Overall, we kind of set some goals for the summer and I would say we’re right on track on where we need to be. We’re progressing nicely.”

Wehner said the goal for this summer was to get the team in the weight room.

“Last year we focused a little bit more on skill development and getting more games in summer league,” Wehner said. “This year we really wanted to put a focus on getting a little bit stronger, little bit faster. Our weight room attendance has definitely gone up than what it has been the past two years. That’s encouraging to see.”

In Mead, the Warriors went 2-1 defeating the Raiders 19-8 and Cedar Bluffs 17-16. Their lone defeat came to Elmwood-Murdock, who placed fourth in the Class D-1 state tournament.

“I think the biggest hill to overcome is just experience. Our girls don’t play a lot of basketball when they’re young. It’s just tough for us to catch up. The only way to catch up to that is by more experience,” Wehner said. “The more basketball we play we just get exponentially better. I think the girls have really bought into that. Every open gym that’s a 1,000 dribbles and another 100 shots that you closed the gap on somebody else. I think they’ve done a really good job buying into that.”

Schuyler returns its top four scorers from last season in seniors Ally and Addy Vavricek, Gabby Rodriguez and Gissell Fuentes. All four played significant minutes over the past two seasons.

“This is an exciting year for us. I think we’re going to have about six seniors out for basketball and all six have played a lot of varsity basketball,” Wehner said. “That’s the one good thing of throwing them into the fire when they’re young. When they’re seniors, you reap those rewards. I think this is going to be our year where we get to see that come to fruition a little bit.”

Wehner said he hopes the hard work the team put in this summer provides a springboard to success in the winter.

“Last year I don’t think we probably met a lot of our goals that we had set for the beginning of the year. We needed to come up with a plan,” Wehner said. “I think the girls understand the difference between the hope of winning more games and how to win more games. This summer we’ve had a little bit more of a plan and the girls have stuck to it.”