The Two Rivers girls basketball team is looking to make strides this year.
The Purple Raiders went 5-17 last year and 2-10 in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference, but this year they, are led by multiple upperclassmen and a new coach at the helm.
Head Coach Kally Krueger is optimistic for the upcoming season
“They’ve been working hard this summer,” she revealed. “I’m really excited to see their defense, how aggressive they are, and their strategies. Just be more confident.”
The team has lots of connection with each other, despite all being in different grade levels.
4 Year Varsity Contributor Senior Anna Klein is excited to see what the new season brings with the new team, especially her new teammates.
“I think we all get together really good,” Klein noted. “We know many of them from other sports. So it’s not like our first time talking to them and building relationships with them.”
The team also contributed time to playing in a summer league, which helped them compete with other local teams.
The girls were able to trust the new coaching staff, making them more confident and a stronger team overall.
Senior Mikayla VanWychen is confident that the work they put in during summer league will help them in the long run.
“Summer League started off a little bit rough, working with new people,” she admitted. “But I think as we progress further, we started to work together a little bit better and get to know how other people play and get to know our coaching staff a little bit better.”
Having the right mindset going into the long winter season is key to being successful.
Senior Rylee Timm is a 4-year player and believes that if that team can stay strong together, they will reach their goals.
Specifically, Timm says, “We’re all going to try to work and keep the team positive and build a good program for this upcoming season.”
The ultimate goal for the Raiders is to finish higher in the conference.
Last year, they were 7th, winning both conference games against New Holstein.
All the players have a united goal despite being in a tough conference.
The team is putting full focus on being better in conference, and then once it’s time, regionals.
Piper Engh is part of the 4 seniors who are ready to compete and prove themselves, but she isn’t looking too far ahead.
“I think that our goal is to do better in conference that we did than we did last year, to start with first,” she said when asked about the postseason.
The Raiders will kick off the regular season on November 18th, as they travel to Cedar Grove-Belgium.
