Monday marked the first official day of practice for Iowa High School girls basketball across the state, the official start of the shot clock era in Iowa High School basketball. The Webster City Lynx start practice under a new regime as Mark Fisher enters his first year as head coach of the Lynx women’s program, taking over for the departed Nicole Muhlenbruch.
Fisher is tasked with jump starting a Webster City girls program that has not seen a winning season in well over 15 years, the closest being an 11-11 mark back in 2017-18. Fortunately for the first-year head coach, he has a veteran group to help him navigate his first season, as the Lynx return 4 of 5 starters from last year’s group that finished 6-16 and finished tied for 6th in the NCC with Clarion-Goldfield-Dows.
Webster City’s top returning scorer is forward Livia Kasch, who averaged just over 7 PPG as a junior, while collecting 5.5 RPG as well. Reese Casey was tied with the aforementioned Kasch in rebounding at 5.5, but the senior center will look to improve her scoring output from just 3.2 PPG last season as well. Fellow senior Abby Gallentine also returns after averaging just under 2 PPG and 1.5 RPG as a junior, giving the Lynx one of taller front lines in the North Central Conference.
The backcourt will look to replace Kelly Stoakes, who was Webster City’s leading scorer in 2021-22 at 7.2 PPG, while also averaging 4.6 RPG, 1 APG and 2.1 SPG. Alley Odland is the most likely candidate to replace Stoakes in the point guard role, as the senior averaged nearly 4 PPG, 1.5 APG and 2.5 SPG as a junior. Adeline Tesdahl and Chloe Andersen are two players to watch to fill the second guard spot, with Tesdahl shooting 26% from 3-point land as a sophomore, while Andersen started 3 of the Lynx 22 games in ’21-22, averaging 3.4 PPG.
Webster City opens their season on Friday, November 18th, when they travel to Boone to take on the Toreadors at Boone High School.