Season Preview: Lincolnview Lady Lancers

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Entering the 2017-2018 season, the Lincolnview Lady Lancers appear to be a basketball team on the rise.

Head coach Dan Williamson (eight years, 72-88) will have six returning letter winners and four returning starters at his disposal, as the Lady Lancers will try to top last year’s 12-11 (4-4 Northwest Conference) finish.

Seniors Olivia Gorman (5-7 guard), Alena Looser (5-8 guard) and Kayla Schimmoeller (5-8 post) are three of the returning starters, along with junior Lakin Brant (5-6 guard). They’ll be joined by senior letter winners Maddie Gorman (5-7 guard) and Frankie Carey (5-8 post). Schimmoeller was named to last season’s All-NWC second team, while Brant was named Honorable Mention.

“With five seniors on the team, we expect that experience to lead to more wins,” Williamson said. “We hope to have a more balanced scoring attack than in past years as there are a number of players that can score.”

Along with the returning players, Williamson has three new promising newcomers – Adia Welch (5-6 junior guard), Lana Carey (5-1 sophomore guard) and Jordan Decker (5-8 sophomore post). Sierra Adams (5-9 sophomore post) is the tallest player on the roster, and will vie for playing time as well.

Williamson also noted that he wants to see the Lady Lancers run the court, both offensively and defensively.

“We hope to be able to push the ball in transition and get easy looks at the basket, Williamson said. “Defensively, we will have to mix things up between man and zone to try and keep the ball out of the post.”

Columbus Grove (23-2, 8-0 NWC) won last year’s conference championship, while Bluffton and Delphos Jefferson finished second and third respectively. Williamson believes this year’s conference title race is wide open.

“With Columbus Grove losing Paige Bellman to an ACL injury, the NWC has 3 or 4 teams with a legitimate shot to win the conference,” Williamson explained. “We think we are one of those teams with a chance to win it.”

In addition to the NWC portion of the schedule, the Lady Lancers will face some tough non-conference opponents during the 2017-2018 season.

“Our non-conference schedule is tougher than in past years,” Williamson said. “We added Elida and New Bremen which will both be tough games for us. Other good non-conference teams will be Ottoville, Wayne Trace, and Kalida.”

Lincolnview’s season will begin Saturday at home against Continental (6 p.m.). The first NWC game will be December 14 at Spencerville.