Montague isn't entirely starting from scratch, but there will be a lot of new faces on this year's Wildcats squad.
One of the notable new faces is on the bench, where Jess DeBruin takes the reins of the program. DeBruin, who played at Mona Shores and Muskegon Community College, was head athletic trainer for the team last season, so she's familiar with the Wildcats. That doesn't mean there hasn't been some adjustment, of course.
"I was around the girls last year, so I had an idea of everything," DeBruin said. "It took me a little bit for it to kind of hit me that now I'm the coach, but once that got going, everything has fallen into place. We've been doing some conditioning and getting the girls into the gym."
The 'Cats also will be reloading on the roster. The team's two best players last year, Emma Peterson and Haylee Schwarz, both graduated, and former all-state player Kendall Osborne transferred to Whitehall. Osborne's departure is obviously a loss, but DeBruin said the Wildcats got used to playing without her last year when she missed much of the season with a knee injury, so that eased the transition.
"In a way, that kind of helped," DeBruin said. "They figured out that whether she was there or not, they could handle it. They've come together and worked hard. They've encouraged each other and gotten things going regardless of who it is."
Montague does bring back all-conference honorable mention performer Addison Pranger, whose shooting ability should help spark the Wildcat offense. There is some veteran presence on the team beyond Pranger as well, with Braylyn Bultema back to anchor the post defense. Kennedy Johnson and Britta Johnson are both seniors who bring plentiful experience from other sports to the court, and Emma Peterson's younger sister Adaline projects to be the primary ballhandler. The Johnsons should be a factor on defense in particular, where their athleticism will stand out.
The 'Cats should also benefit later in the season when Ella King returns from a knee injury. DeBruin expects her back about midseason. New faces to watch include Ava Vandermeulen and Maizie Collins; DeBruin expects Vandermeulen to have an impact defensively.
Even with the many challenges Montague faced last year, the Wildcats still had a strong season and were favored to win the district before Whitehall upset them in the finals. DeBruin said the team believes it let that one get away and has used it as motivation over the offseason.
"We just pretty much want to beat them," DeBruin said with a chuckle. "It's like any other time (we play Whitehall), but it gives us a lot of motivation, knowing where we were at and where we could've been. It gives them some fuel to get them going."
Whitehall is but two of the 22 games on the Montague schedule, though, and the Wildcats will get a taste of big-school opposition with games against Grand Haven and Mona Shores, as well as perennial small-school power Kent City. The West Michigan Conference Lakes will again be competitive, with DeBruin eyeing defending champion Ludington and Fremont as the Wildcats' most likely competition for the top spot.
"We've got some good competitive games that will help us to prepare for postseason games," DeBruin said.
Whitehall preview
Whitehall's senior-laden team went on a dream postseason ride last year, winning a district title for the first time this century. Now, the Vikings face a much larger challenge - trying to do it again without any of their 2022-23 starters.
Whitehall graduated its entire starting lineup, and seven seniors in all, after last season.
"The biggest key will be to mesh this group of talented girls, who have not played much together, into a team that communicates and plays team offense and team defense for 32 minutes," Whitehall coach Brian Milliron said. "We all look forward to that task."
The Vikings do get one important boost towards accomplishing that task with the arrival of Kendall Osborne. Now a senior, Osborne was all-state honorable mention as a sophomore at Montague before missing almost all of last season with a knee injury. She's since transferred across the river, and she'll enter the season as the most accomplished Viking.
Knee injuries are an unfortunately common refrain among the Whitehall roster. Megan LeaTrea suffered one in the offseason and will miss the season, though she'll remain part of the team. Allie Van Antwerp missed last season with her own knee injury - her second - and her return will be a boon for Whitehall. Two other seniors, Taylor Ottinger and Lucy Zamojcin, provide the rest of the leadership team for this Whitehall squad.
The past and present knee injuries - Milliron said the roster has sustained seven such injuries in total - serve as motivation for the team.
"This is a good reminder for everyone to take advantage of every opportunity you get, because you just don’t know how many you will have," Milliron said.
Though not a senior, junior Lexi Daggett has as much experience playing on the Whitehall court as anyone on the roster, and she'll be a key part of the Viking attack.
The Fagans, junior captain Leanne and sophomore Janie, and juniors Evelyn Darke and Grace McDowell, bring plentiful experience from other sports to the Viking team, and freshman Clare Westerlund will get some time on the court too.
"The practice atmosphere so far this year has been fantastic, and the coaches have been pleasantly surprised how quickly the girls are coming together," Milliron said. "This can be credited to the character of the kids along with team activities Coach (Emily) MacArthur organized in the off season to bring the girls together. "
Whitehall will very quickly get an idea of how much more improvement there is to make, as it opens the season against Division 1 Cadillac. The Vikings topped Cadillac last year en route to its special season.
"We will be relying on this year's group to be ready to go against a very quality game one opponent," Milliron said.
Reeths-Puffer preview
Reeths-Puffer returns two veteran starters from last season's team, plus a senior contributor, who no doubt are motivated by the end to last season.
The Rockets, who had 1,000-point career scorers Sophia Hekkema and Ariel Walker on the team, won an O-K Green Conference title last year, only to be upset at the buzzer by Kenowa Hills in the district semifinals.
Perhaps that's part of why, according to coach Rodney Walker, senior guard Brooklynn Tornes has taken a more vocal leadership role as preseason preparation continues with Hekkema and Ariel Walker now graduated.
"I think Brooklynn Tornes will have a breakout year," Walker said. "She's already doing it, providing that leadership on the floor and being more vocal...I love what I see from her as far as the positive encouragement. Her and Irelynn (Niklasch) are using their voices to pick these ladies up and help them understand what the intensity is going to be like on the varsity level."
Tornes showed her toughness last season, often being among the team's rebounding leaders despite giving up several inches to almost everyone else on the court. No doubt she will be looked to for that again this year, and likely more scoring as well.
She and Niklasch, along with senior Megan Barmes, make up the core of the team, which will likely line up as a smaller group than last year, when Hekkema and Ariel Walker provided size at forward and guard respectively.
"We'll be as scrappy as possible, focusing on boxing out, outlet passes and fast-break points," Walker said. "That's kind of the goal for us this year, is to be sound defensively and make it tough for teams to score on us."
R-P will also likely look to be more deliberate in the half-court offense. With the luxury of experience last year, the Rockets were able to speed things up at any time, but will now be looking to work several varsity newcomers into the offense.
In the meantime, they'll hang their hat on defense. In addition to the three seniors, Chloe Brainard, Savannah Lockwood and Mallory Metzger will be key parts of the team, and Walker believes each will be especially strong on defense.
"We have a variety of different girls who will give us some different looks defensively," Walker said. "I think that will be one of our biggest strengths. We'll be a sound half-court defensive team."
Walker is always a proponent of a positive team atmosphere, and that will be even more important this season as the Rockets develop as a team.
"A key will be loving on each other and trying to create some team camaraderie to make sure we play as a collective group," Walker said. "Not necessarily having a person who's a star, so to speak, we want to collectively win games and assign and establish roles for certain people to help us compete again. We always want to be in a position to win games at the end."
The O-K Green looks like another tough league this year. Muskegon, armed with several highly-recruited players, is always a force, but Walker predicts that Wyoming and both Zeeland schools will see contributions from incoming varsity players, and Union, with coach April Kidd, can never be discounted. The Mona Shores rivalry game is always a highlight.
R-P will play some intriguing non-conference games, including a matchup with Holt at an Aquinas holiday showcase. However, if Walker has it his way, the best version of the Rockets will be seen later in the season during conference play.
"We'll probably be better as we go," Walker said. "It will take some time for us to mesh and glue things together before we take off, probably around midseason."
