This Thursday the Warriors will take on the Rockets of Lincoln Northeast. The two teams haven’t faced off in two seasons, and both teams’ have changed significantly since then.
The biggest change is with the coaching change at Lincoln Northeast. This year Northest will be led by new head coach Matt VanEngen. VanEngen was the JV coach and varsity assistant for the last five years before taking over as head varsity coach in the absence of former head coach Charity Iromuanya.
Lincoln Northeast had a 14-11 record last season with their season being cut short in the District final against Lincoln High who eventually finished as the runner-up in the state tournament.
Westside will be tasked with containing Illinois State commit Doneelah Washington. The senior averaged 17 points and 11.5 rebounds in her junior season.
Westside matches up well with the Rockets in the post with 6’3″ sophomore Sanai Foster, and another post in 6’0″ freshman Elise Pederson.
Assistant coach Karolyn Cahill Westside’s main key to victory is stopping the scoring inside from Washington and finishing possessions with rebounds.
“We have to shut down Washington,” Cahill said. “She’s a 20 plus point a game kid, and then we have to rebound.”
Cahill believes the biggest challenge that the team will face during the game is sticking together during the ebbs and flows of the game.
“[Our] biggest challenge is going to be probably a little bit of composure early on, and then making sure we run our stuff even when they try to get us out of it,” Cahill said.
Even with these challenges, Westside can score on all three levels which will make them hard to stop in the half court.
“We’ve got multiple kids who can shoot the ball,” Cahill said. “We’ve also got multiple kids who could score at the rim.”
Senior Mackenna Bush believes that the team’s main focus should be what they’re going to do in the game rather than focusing on stopping Lincoln Northeast.
“If we’re making our shots and pushing the ball, and then obviously stopping their main posts, we should easily win this game,” Bush said.
They will have a quick turnaround playing their next game on Saturday against Lincoln Southwest or North Platte.
