Season in Review: Lincolnview girls hoops

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A slow start to the season didn’t deter the 2020-2021 Lincolnview Lady Lancers, who turned a 2-9 start into a 10-14 (2-6 NWC) finish, all while playing a formidable schedule.

The final record included a 9-13 regular season, a 54-23 sectional semifinal win over Edgerton and a 41-25 loss to Wayne Trace in the sectional finals, a game that was closer than the final score would indicate.

While looking back at the season, second-year head coach Kyle Williams said improvement at the offensive end led to the second-half turnaround.

“We started off the year very stagnant,” Williams explained. “We had a few games where we struggled to score, especially our last game of the season but overall our ability to score improved. I think that came with our ability to understand/read our offense better later in the season. They started to become selfless on the court.”

“I think there is so much more to work on especially reading zones but we are making strides in the right direction,” Williams added. “I am also pleased with our overall effort this year as well. My girls worked extremely hard for me and I’m extremely proud of them.”

“Our last 13 games we went 8-5 with some big wins at Parkway and at Delphos St. John’s. Our improvement towards the end of the season was great. It will be fun moving into the summer with a lot of returners and tremendous 8th grade class coming in. We are building something fun and exciting and I hope our school and community see that.”

Junior Kendall Bollenbacher and Zadria King were the team’s leading scorers and rebounders, with Bollenbacher averaging 11.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game and King posting averages of 8.8 points and 6.5 rebounds. Senior Annie Mendenhall added 7.5 points and 3.6 assists per game and two sophomores – Makayla Jackson and Carson Looser – added 5.3 and 4.8 points per game respectively. Other scoring came from sophomore Annie Renner (3.1 ppg) and senior Sami Sellers (2.9 ppg).

Just two seniors were on the roster – Mendenhall and Sellers – but Williams said both will be difficult to replace.

“They were great leaders on and off the court,” Williams said of the two. “Both played huge minutes for me and they were ultimately great teammates to around. They were both thrown into roles they have never had to do before, and they responded in a big way.”

“They are the definition of what a Lincolnview student/athlete should be like. They have a knowledge for the game that is going to be irreplaceable.”

Williams also lauded his assistant coaches, Brenda Leeth and Brianna Geiger.

“My coaching staff is a lot of fun and they work extremely hard to try and improve the program,” Williams said. “I have a staff with lots of experience around the game of girls basketball and bring a lot of knowledge to the table. They want what I want, and that is to improve Lincolnview Girls Basketball. We are making strides in the right direction and I am extremely grateful for them.”

As noted before, Lincolnview played a challenging schedule against the likes of Ottoville, Wayne Trace, New Bremen and Division II Van Wert, along with a lineup of strong Northwest Conference foes like Crestview, Paulding, Spencerville, Columbus Grove and Delphos Jefferson.

“In my mind, outside of the MAC the NWC is one of the better conferences in our area,” Williams stated. “We competed extremely hard in our conference games but a very tough conference for sure. This offseason is going to be crucial for us as we did not have much of an offseason last year. It is going to be important to get as much playing time/gym time as possible to build our continuity and our team chemistry.”

“Our motto past year was BUY IN and that’s what we are going to need from everyone to be successful and to keep moving in the right direction,” he added.