Wildcat girls will again challenge for NCC title
Humboldt's returning letter winners, from left: Paige Nelson, Meg Zweibohmer, Ava Newton, Ava Fischer, Morgan Mann and Kaitlyn Nelson. Independent photo.
Thanks to the return of seven letterwinners from last year’s squad that went 18-5 overall, 12-2 and second in conference play, Humboldt girls’ basketball coach Rodd Mooney says his Wildcats will hit the ground running when they begin this season.
Mooney’s Wildcats advanced to the regional final last February, only to fall short to Sioux Center. All-state performer and all-time leading scorer Morgan Mann suffered a knee injury in that game. Fortunately, Mann is fully healed entering the new season so optimism is high in the Wildcat camp.
“With the group of returning letterwinners we have, we can hit the ground running when pre-season practice began more so than other years. Even the girls who didn’t letter but are back this year, they are kids who played a lot of JV minutes. We have some good experience back overall so hopefully we can try and get some things done faster than we did last year,” Mooney said.
“Because we are not a big team, we have to play a certain way. We have to push the ball and play fast. We’ll shoot a lot of threes. We’ll have to play in transition and try and figure out ways to rebound the ball,” Mooney said.
“There are also some things we can try this year that we haven’t done in years past, simply because our general knowledge is higher,” Mooney said.
“Morgan is coming back stronger from her knee surgery, which is amazing to me. The amount of work that kid put in to get ready for the season and rehabilitate to the point where she was 100 percent on day one of practice is really amazing. It’s a credit to modern science that you can do that now but it’s a lot of credit to her for pushing herself. I’ve seen how much work she’s put in to do what she’s doing,” Mooney said.
Mann averaged 20 points, seven rebounds and 3.3 steals and 2.5 assists per game last year. Ava Fischer a junior sharpshooter, averaged 14 points and four rebounds per game. Senior guard Kaitlyn Nelson averaged 6.4 points and Paige Nelson 5 points per game for the Wildcats. Seniors Meg Zweibohmer, Ava Newton and junior Kate Sievers also lettered.
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