The Perry girls basketball team finished 6-16 overall last season, but stumbled to an 0-11 mark in Raccoon River Conference play.
That said, there were areas in which the Jayettes showed improvement over a 1-20 season two years ago, and head coach Skylar Wolf wants to keep the positive direction flowing.
“We will have some challenges again this year, but we know it and are not intimidated,” Wolf said. “If we can be better from one game to the next then that is what we want.”
Doing so will not be as easy thanks to the graduation of Molly Lutmer, who takes 433 of teh 939 team points and 60 of the team 114 3-pointers with her.
However, an experienced core returns led by seniors Kennedy Tunink and Quinn Whiton, junior Jayna Kenney and sophomore Lydia Olejniczak. Seniors Lanie Fish, Michelle Tobar and Phoebe Stewart, sophomore Kathryn West and freshman Callie Steva round out the squad.
Olejniczak had 221 points and 146 rebounds last season. She drained 20-of-67 (29.9 percent) of her 3-point tries and provided 27 steals and 25 assists.
Kenney scored 132 points while pulling down 106 caroms. She came away with 40 steals, had 29 assists, and splashed 15-of-53 (28.3 percent) beyond the arc.
Tunink had the only other appreciable statistical totals, accounting for 44 points and 31 rebounds.
The returning players have spent many seasons playing together and are a close group, according to Wolf, a factor that should weigh in their favor.
“We get along well and are used to what each other is doing on the floor,” he said. “Now we just need to turn that into wins when the opportunities are there.”
Perry’s first home game will be Tuesday against Carlisle, beginning at 6 p.m.
