Lady Tigers Putting Talented Pieces Together
WARSAW — With so much to do and so little time to do it in, Warsaw girls basketball coach Lenny Krebs’ first year at the helm of the Lady Tigers was a bit of a blur. Thankfully, Krebs and company are much more settled in at the start of the 2018-19 season.
“We’re much more relaxed. I know the girls. The girls know me,” explained Krebs. “That was a big thing last year — we were learning each other. I was learning who each individual was, their strengths, their weaknesses. We had just a great offseason just getting to know each other, and we’re so much further ahead than where we were last year. We’ve got our offenses put in. We’ve got our defenses put in. Not that I’m content with where we’re at; I’m happy.”
Much of the difference has to do with the work the Tigers put in over the offseason. And part of it has to do with a core of returning players in senior Maddie Ryman and juniors Kaylee Patton and Brielle Harrison.
“I think we’re going to be a year wiser, a year more mature at some key positions,” said Krebs.
“We’ve got some key kids who last year was their first real go-round. Those three especially have been great leaders for us so we’re much more experienced in that aspect. Our younger kids are going to be looking to those three for their leadership, and they’ve stepped up.”
Alongside those three key returners are a number of talented newcomers looking to build on last season’s 15-9 mark. Sophomore Kensie Ryman makes the move up from JV play last year and will take over at the point, allowing Maddie to move over to a shooting guard position after leading the team with 10 points per game last year. Fellow sophomores Audrey Grimm and Kendall Wayne also bump up from the JV squad, while freshman Kacilyn Krebs brings the kind of basketball IQ only a coach’s daughter can possess, and fellow frosh Abby Sanner lends some size to the team at 6’2”.
It’s a good mix of talent and should give Krebs and his staff some flexibility. The Tigers are still figuring out precisely what roles each girl will fill, but it’s a lineup that should give the team some options depending on nightly match-ups. It’s also one with the capability of spreading the floor on defenses.
“We’ve got a lot more pieces that we can put together to play big, to play small, to play different styles to try to create mismatch situations. We’re in a situation now where Brielle Harrison could be our five, which I think causes some match-up issues with another five trying to guard her with her quickness and her ability to put the ball on the floor,” Krebs said.
“It’s going to be an exciting year. I know some people aren’t going to want to hear this, but we’ve got some people who can shoot the basketball. You’re probably going to see even more possible 3-point field goal attempts this year than you did last year, just because the number of shooters that we have this year, we’re going to take a bet that not everyone is going to have an off night.”
While Krebs may be willing to bet on his shooters, he also vividly recalls last year’s season-ending loss to Elkhart Memorial and the lessons learned when the shots simply weren’t falling. This year’s Tigers are learning how to score when those perimeter attempts won’t go in. And besides, the emphasis, in true Krebs’ style, is still on defense, which can lend itself to scoring success, too.
“I’m a big defensive guy. The girls know if you’re not going to play defense, you’re not going to play for very long. We’ve been pushing defense, and, once again, we’re much further along in that process than where we were last year. The girls were learning a new system — they went from playing a lot of zone to playing a lot of man-to-man. There were a lot of changes. At the same time, we talked all offseason about the fact that we want the number of possessions to increase by about 10 or 12 possessions. We want to get a few more possessions during the course of the year than we did last year, and in my mind the way we do that is defensive pressure, turning up the defensive intensity,” Krebs explained.
“If we can put some pressure on some people on the defensive end, maybe get some easy shots, give them confidence — especially some of our young kids — get that first shot knocked down early in a game, maybe that will give them some confidence and get rid of those jitters.”
The Tigers open their season Saturday on the road at Norwell before traveling to Manchester next Wednesday. They’re scheduled to play their first home game opposite Tippecanoe Valley next Friday night. The team will likely experiment with its lineup over the first few games in preparation for an always difficult Northern Lakes Conference slate. As usual, the focus is on daily preparation and improvement more than the wins and losses themselves.
“I would like to think that we’re not going to lose games because of our inexperience this year. Last year I felt like we lost a couple just because we weren’t quite experienced and ready for that moment. I go back to how many one- or two-possession games — Homestead, Chesterton — we were right there in some of those games. Hopefully those games will go in our favor this year,” Krebs said.
“Are we going to win 15 games? Maybe, if the head coach doesn’t screw it up,” he said with a laugh. “I can’t tell you how many games we’re going to win. Once again, we want to take that approach where we want to be better today than we were yesterday, and the wins and losses are going to take care of themselves.”