The politest way to describe last season for the Perry girls basketball team may be “challenging.”
Perry finished just 1-20 overall and ranked in the bottom three or four teams in Class 4A in several statistical categories. But, as second-year head coach Skylar Wolf was quick to point out, “that was last year.”
While Wolf said the current Jayette squad would try and use lessons learned from the last campaign to their advantage “we are not going to dwell on it.”
“I like the attitude the girls are showing,” Wolf said. “They know this is a chance to get a fresh start, to put aside last year and say ‘look at what we are doing now’ and that is exactly the approach I was hoping we would have.”
First and foremost must be come considerable offensive improvement. Perry was held to less than one point per minute in 12 of their 21 games last year and were guilty of a ghastly 463 turnovers, or 22 empty possessions per outing.
The team shot just 27.1 percent from the floor (23.7 on 3-pointers) but sank 56.4 percent at the foul line while averaging a serviceable 22.6 rebounds per game despite almost without exception being the smaller team on the court.
Several returning players, most of who were experiencing their first varsity campaign last winter, are now ready to turn the direction of the ship around.
Senior Molly Lutmer (14.8 points per game) is back to lead the offense. She sank 49-of-172 treys (28.5 percent) as a junior and sparkled at the foul line, landing 35-of-41 (85.4 percent) from the stripe. Lutmer averaged 5.3 rebounds per outing from her point guard spot, with Wolf certain the University of Sioux Falls-bound point guard will at least replicate the numbers and might substantially improve them.
Fellow senior Hannah Peterson is back after providing 49 rebounds and 20 assists, with junior Ainsley Marburger (3.3 rebounds per game) and sophomore Jayna Kenney (4.2 ppg) and 45 rebounds also back for Perry.
The team will be without starter Quinn Whiton, who will miss the season with a knee injury. They will, however, gain the services of freshman Lydia Olejniczak, who should make an immediate impact on both ends of the floor.
Perry hosts Des Moines North tonight in a girls-only junior varsity/varsity set beginning at 6 p.m. They will play a girls jv/varsity twinbill at Newton Tuesday, with the first game starting at 6:15 p.m.
The Jayettes are then off until being joined by the Bluejays for a boys/girls slate at Greene County Dec. 3, with Carroll to visit Perry for a RRC boys/girls set Dec. 6.
