`Cats looking for net

Published 9:37 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

A young Wildcat team will be taking to the court for the girl’s

basketball season, but with the help of some seasoned talent in senior

Moriah Hover and sophomore Nicci Landeck, the team should improve on last

year’s 7-13 record.

Leading the team again this year is coach Dirk Hansen, now in his

third season. Hansen is quick to point out his team’s youth, but follows it

right up with its athleticism.

“We are fairly athletic, so we had a lot of success in summer-league

basketball,” said Hansen. The team’s athleticism this season will allow

a more aggressive defense, a defense that will have to play better

man-to-man than in past seasons.

“The emphasis this year is that we need to play better man-to-man

defense,” said Hansen. “I didn’t do a

very good job of preparing the girls defensively last year. I worked hard in

the offseason to become a better instructor in defense. If I can’t improve,

my team can’t improve.”

The offseason found Hansen working with another coach

from South Dakota named Don Meyer. “I have been communicating with

him through e-mail and he has been a major inspiration to me, giving me a

lot of new stuff. He is helping me establish my philosophy as a coach.”

But putting a team together is more than philosophy, and Hansen has

been tweaking the combination of players and strategies to get the right

formula on the court. “We are still slowly

putting the puzzle together,” he said.

“We have a good class of kids coming in again next year, so we are slowly

adding to the puzzle. I kind of feel like Mike Holmgren, saying be patient,

be patient and it will happen.

“We are going to full-court basketball. With our schedule, it’s hard

to press night in and night out, with games on Wednesdays and

Fridays. Thursday is not much of a rest. We want to play man-to-man defense,

but we want to mix it up. We want to force teams to change what they are

doing on offense,” he said.

“I think this year we have a legitimate chance to go a couple of

games over 500,” continued Hansen. “If

you can get into that KingCo tournament and slip into districts, you never

know what could happen.”

Leading the pack are top returners Kristen Travis, Hover and

Landeck. Hover is known for her physical play and is likely one of the top post

players in the league. “She is stronger than I am, she is very hard to stop,”

said Hansen of Hover. “I just need to make sure I do a good job of making

sure she is fresh and 100 percent the whole time.”

Landeck is talented and shows some leadership traits, as well,

her coach said.

“Landeck, who was honorable mention last year as a freshman,

has worked unbelievably hard in the weight room, at shooting and in

the gym,” said Hansen.

Summer league is the strength behind many basketball teams

in KingCo, and the Wildcats had several players hooping it up over the

summer. Hover, Landeck, Travis, Angela Jones and Lizzie Finnegan all

played summer ball.

“A lot of these schools in KingCo have girls that play all year-round.

I’ve had a hard time getting these girls to commit,” said Hansen. “It’s hard to

develop shooters during the season. That’s something that these kids

need to take responsibility to do during the summertime, but we have a few

of those kids.”

The team will also have a freshman in its ranks at varsity,

Landa Pastrana. “She is a good ball handler, she has good instincts and those

are hard to teach and hard to coach,” said Hansen.

Hansen started this season with 45 girls, but has had to make cuts to

get to the 33 that will play between the three teams. Also assisting him in

the coaching duties this year are John Applegate, who will be handling

JV, and Bill Cruse, who will be handling the “C” team.

Hansen expects Bellevue to take the league again this year. “With

a group of seniors that have played together for four years, they will

be tough,” said Hansen. “We expect a closer game with them this

year. Sammamish should be good this year, we have split with them over the

last couple of years,” he added.

“Skyline will be solid with an excellent

coach in Kevin Estes. They are an aggressive pressing team. Issaquah will

be excellent again with Kathy Gibson coaching. She has a lot of good

kids to work with over there,” he continued.

The Wildcats start their season Wednesday, Nov. 29th, at

home against Highline. Game time is 7 p.m. Their regular season starts

Friday, Dec. 8, against Sammamish with game time at 7:30 p.m.