By Joey Peterson —
The men’s and women’s basketball teams combined for a record of nine wins and 41 losses a year ago, but each team looks to improve upon that this year. Both teams are a little inexperienced, with the women’s team having just four seniors and the men’s team only having two, but each team is hoping to have some younger players step-up.
Both teams have experienced head coaches that have been at the University of Wisconsin–Stout for over fifteen years. On the men’s side, head coach Eddie Andrist is entering his 16th year as head coach for Stout, and has a total of 41 years of coaching experience. Women’s head coach Mark Thomas is entering in his 29th year of coaching at Stout.
Because each team generally has younger players at each position, coaches will be looking for young or inexperienced players to play bigger roles. On the men’s side they will have to replace their only double-digit scorer and last year’s leading rebounder, Jarvis Ragland. The women’s team will have to replace eight out of their top twelve contributors from a year ago, but will return a 1st-team all WIAC player in Jenna Goldsmith (Jr, St Anthony, Minn.).
Teams’ Strengths
Women’s- “We have good speed and depth. As long as we can use can use our speed we should be able to compete. Mixing our youth with our veteran players is a process that takes time, however it is going very well and we are excited about getting going with games,” said Coach Thomas.
Men’s- The team lost its best player statistically from a year ago, however they have many returning players that received playing time from a year ago. “We will have good depth at all positions and we will carry twenty players,” said Coach Andrist.
Areas for Improvement
Women’s- “We aren’t real big, but have good size in some positions, we need some other kids to step up and make some plays, we need to really get better on the defensive end,” said Thomas.
Men’s- Although they have depth at each position, they do not have experience at each position. “We need more experience; we are still pretty young with only two seniors,” said Andrist.
Season Goals
Women’s- “First goal is to protect our motto, our best chance at winning is to use our speed and depth. Also, the simple goal of winning each possession and stringing quality possessions together on both ends of the court and finally to win,” said Thomas.
Men’s- “We want to be competitive in all the games and make some noise in the WIAC,” said Andrist.
Women’s top returners (Stats from 2014-15 season)
Jenna Goldsmith – 12.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 0.3 APG 54.2 FG%, 78.2 FT%
Kyleigh Hebert (Sr, Spencer, Wis.)- 9.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.9 APG, 36.7 FG%, 64.9 FT%
Sarah Schoch (Jr, Chippewa Falls, Wis.)- 5.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 0.5 APG, 29.1 FG%, 50.0 FT%
Men’s top returners (stats from 2014-15 Season)
Brett Ahsenmacher (Jr, Annandale, Minn.)- 8.9 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 1.5 APG, 37.7 FG%, 62.3% FT%
Jalen Patterson (So, Lauderdale, Minn.)- 6.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 0.9 APG, 42.4 FG%, 43.2 FT%
John Lahti (So, Turtle Lake, Wis.)- 6.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 0.5 APG, 52.6 FG%, 63.1 FT%
The women’s team opens up on November 14 against St. Benedict and the men’s team opens up against Minnesota-Crookston. Both games are at home with the women’s team playing at 3 p.m. and the men’s team at 5 p.m.
