M State Lady Spartans (Season Preview)
As Jodi Holleman enters her fourth season as Head Coach of the M State Women’s Basketball team, she does so with a team that will feature more depth and a nice mix of sophomore experience and incoming freshman that lead her to have high expectations. “We have a nice group of sophomores to lead this team and some very talented freshmen that will be immediate impact players,” noted Holleman.
As Jodi Holleman enters her fourth season as Head Coach of the M State Women's Basketball team, she does so with a team that will feature more depth and a nice mix of sophomore experience and incoming freshman that lead her to have high expectations. "We have a nice group of sophomores to lead this team and some very talented freshmen that will be immediate impact players," noted Holleman.
The Spartans had a few key holes to fill due to graduation of post players Emily Dehler, now playing at UW-Superior, and Lindsey Kurz, along with perimeter player Ashley Dreger. "We were very young last year and struggled to score the first part of the season," recalled Holleman. "It was awesome to see the improvement once we started conference play. It was great to end the season with two nice road wins."
Rothsay High School graduate Jayna Gronewold provides an immediate impact as the sophomore returns after a year away from the game. She joins fellow sophomore guards Keely Foley, Itzel Salazar and Kiera Cox, and forward Brooke Finken as players with starting experience. Sophomore guard Kaisa Jones is also back from last year's team.
The freshman class includes Mo Bugbee (Forward) and Mia Blaskowski (Post) from Underwood, Madison Ballweg (Guard) and Madi Foss (Guard) from Hillcrest, and Nevaeh Williams (Post) from Mahnomen/Waubun.
"The return of Jayna Gronewold at point guard is a big plus," said Holleman. "It will be great to have depth at every position. We are very quick this year, therefore, we will be looking to run various presses and a fast break attack. We have a lot of players that can really shoot the ball. We hit the fundamentals hard and are hoping to improve every week and be very competitive in this very tough MCAC South."
Holleman will be assisted by Abby Oberg and Kayla Feldhake. She sees Rochester, Anoka-Ramsey and Minnesota West as the top teams in the MCAC.