Young women’s basketball team sets high goals

Jayne Durnin/Staff Writer

Every year the CFHS women’s basketball team has set the bar high. This year’s team is no different.

Last year the team had a 19-5 season and a 16-game winning streak. This years team is working hard to keep up the great work.

The Tigers head coach is Dan List, and the assistant coach is Gregg Groan. Coach List is in his 17th season at Cedar Falls and has been coaching for over 30 years.

“Our team this year is really young, but I think if we can pull through even though we are inexperienced, we can have a successful season,” senior captain Linden Terpstra said.

The team started the season very optimistically, but they suffered a severe setback early in the season.

“We were very confident going into the season we would be successful. We suffered a major blow when our starting point guard Courtney Dreyer tore her ACL in her knee. She might be out the entire season. We are very inexperienced at this position, so this was a severe loss for us,” head coach Dan List said.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a great start to the season.

“We have already faced the number two team in 3A in Waukon, the number one team in the girl’s union poll in Kennedy and the number one team in the press poll in Linn Mar in back-to-back-back games. This was an extremely brutal beginning to the season, especially losing Courtney. There are other quality teams in our conference as well,” List said.

Despite the young team and a big injury, the team is looking up.

“The girls get along very well and have a good team chemistry. We had our top two scorers back and three returning staters: seniors Laura Johnson, Terpstra and Dreyer,” List said.

The team, led by senior captains Dreyer, Johnson and Terpstra, has big goals for this season.

“Our first goal is to make it to State. We also have to work hard and win games to get seeded better for Regionals. And really, our goal is just to improve as a team, have a good season and get to know each other really well,” Terpstra said.

“We want to be a better team at the end of the year than we were at the beginning of the season,” List added.

The team’s next game is tonight at Cedar Rapids Washington starting at 7:30, following the JV game. The next home game is on Friday against Waterloo East at 7:30.