The South Hamilton Hawks girls basketball team opened practice on Monday, with the hopes of elevating the program even further, following a 16-7 campaign in 2021-22, the Hawks first winning season in over a decade. Guard play was key for South Hamilton in a very competitive Heart of Iowa Conference with teams such as state-qualifiers Roland-Story, West Marshall and a Nevada program with much success in the past decade.
Mark Henderson’s turnaround of the Hawks program in ’21-22 is attributed in large part to the guard play from junior Makena Galetich and senior Hallee Feaker. Galetich led the Hawks by averaging 15 PPG, good for 4th in the Heart of Iowa last season. Feaker followed closely by averaging 12.8 PPG, which was good for 5th in the league last season, as both players averaged over 5 RPG and at or near 3 APG as well. Junior forward Ashlyn Erickson returns as well, as she averaged over 8 PPG and nearly 5 RPG as a sophomore.
South Hamilton will look to replace two senior starters off last year’s squad in guard Makenzy Grady and center Caleigh Hewitt. Junior Grace Neuberger is expected to step into a larger role in the starting lineup, as she averaged a little over 2 PPG and 4 RPG last season, while shooting 31.7% from 3. Tanna Thompson or Kailyn Northrup are two possibilities to fill the open 3-guard spot, as Thompson missed last season due to a knee injury.
South Hamilton opens the regular season on Tuesday, November 22nd at Collins-Maxwell High School against the Spartans, with tipoff slated for 7:45 PM.