Experience could be key as Baus era opens at Wooster

  • By Brian Questel
  • November 19, 2010
  • 323
                        
112910 whsgirlsBKpreview Promo: New coach, new system, new results for WHS girls? Experience could be key as Baus era opens at Wooster By Brian Questel When Mike Baus stepped down as Wooster City School Board president, he didn’t step away from the students in the Wooster City School district. Instead, he stepped closer when he took the reins of the Wooster High girls basketball program after head coach Karen McConnell tendered her resignation last spring. Baus was an assistant last year when the Generals went 10-10 overall and 7-7 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference to tie with Madison for fourth, so there is a comfort level with his hiring to bridge the transition between coaches. “That has helped tremendously mainly from fact they know me and I know them,” said Baus. “The challenging part is a new system they’re learning. The difficulty is getting them up to snuff on the new system, but they’re working hard to adapt to that. I think the hard work will pay off.” Wooster graduated only two players, All-OCC first-team guard Amanda Turner and post Sabrina Bias. That means Baus has a veteran team to work with, and not just this season since there are only three seniors on this year’s squad. Perhaps the biggest issue Wooster will have to deal with is in the paint. “Probably one of our obvious deficiencies is we’re not very big,” said Baus, which was one of the key issues for installing the new approach. “Most, if not all, of the teams we play will be bigger than we are.” To offset that, Baus is looking to utilize an aggressive approach on the floor into an “up-and-down tempo and use our quickness because we don’t have much height,” he said. “We’re going to try push the ball and use full-court and trapping-type presses to counteract not being very big.” “Speed and quickness are two strengths,” he added. “I think we’re going to go 8-9 deep, but that’s an area we’re still feeling out with our scrimmages and we’ll see how deep we can go. Our goal is to go that deep and within the next week or two we’ll see if that’s reality. “The good news is they all played in good AAU programs over the spring and summer. That definitely made the statement they’re dedicated to basketball and committed.” The two lynchpins on the team are juniors Lauren Walker, an OCC first-teamer, and Halle Gallo-Malta. Walker led the team in scoring (13.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.1 rpg), while Gallo-Malta averaged 10.4 points. Classmate Andi Logee (1.2 ppg) will start in the post, while senior captain Ashley Evans (3.6 ppg) will step into one of the guard spots. Brittany Nicholson, a junior, and sophomore Claire Ballard will both be counted on to see extensive time. Another senior captain, Emily Kacsandi, and junior Alicia Carter will come off the bench into the post, while the third senior and captain, Erica Lust, will come in on the wing. Junior Staci Hackett will back-up at point guard. “Walker and Malta are working hard,” said Baus. “Halle is coming off shoulder surgery this summer. Last year she wore a brace, which limited her motion tremendously. She feels great and is ready to take it up another level without being restricted by the brace. “Lauren is making a little of an adjustment by … working her way out to the wing. She’s been working on her outside shot. She’s always been able to drive and penetrate, and now we’re trying to mix her game up a little … and add to her bag of tricks. “Ashley is really improved,” Baus added. “Last year she had two games she scored 20-plus points, but she was up and down a little bit. She is a much more consistent player. One of the strengths with Lauren and Halle is their past experience and high scoring averages, but we expected them to carry the load. What is different (now) is the top 6-7 people can have big nights on any given night.” Spreading the scoring wealth will be critical, but Baus has been pleased with the time his team has put into improving its game. “We had quite a few nights this summer where we spent a lot of time on shooting form and shooting the correct way,” said Baus. “They’ve worked hard to improve.” Baus is hoping the Generals can move up in the win column in a competitive league. “I think Orrville and West Holmes are definitely favored up top,” he said. “The interesting thing with the OCC is it’s competitive enough any team beat any other team. It makes it interesting and wide open, top to bottom.” Wooster hosts Cloverleaf on November 30 to open its season.


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