Iowa City West preview

Inexperienced and ‘short’ by standards of Varsity high school basketball in the Mississippi Valley Conference, Iowa City West’s fleet of young players have a lot of work before their opening games against non-conference Fairfield on Nov. 24 and North Scott on Nov. 28.

Mostly comprised of players that have yet to experience the level of play against powerhouses such as cross-town rival City High, Linn-Mar and Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Head Coach BJ Mayer knows that his team will have to resort to different style of play to make up for their weaknesses in the defensive zone.

“We’re going to be playing a lot deeper this season,” Mayer said. “Our goal is to create a more up-tempo game and to get up and down the floor pretty well. We just want to be able to wear teams down.”

Last season the Women of Troy were lead by Emma Kittle Krieger who led the team (16-6) in points (351) and played a major role in West’s run for the 2008 conference tournament championship. Though Krieger was a vital part to last year’s success, Iowa City West Head Coach BJ Mayer believes that this year’s returners will fill the position she vacated.

"We have some good juniors coming back:Mackenzie Reed, Kristin Fomon and Courtney Fritz,” Mayer said. “We’re really going to look for them to be our leaders and we also have some kids that are sophomores that we’re excited about including Tatum Klein.”

The sophomores, coming off last season’s 20-1 record, are described by Mayer as a ‘resilient bunch,’ they will be taught work well alongside the senior girls in the hopes of having a run for the playoffs and the state tournament.

“In sports it’s really difficult to get to the next level until you’ve been there once,” Mayer said. “To get to the game before state was a huge confidence builder last year and the players that are returning are going to work towards getting there again this season.”