By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
New season, same expectations for the Saugatuck girls basketball team.
“As we do every year, we fully expect to compete for conference and district championships,” Saugatuck coach Kevin Tringali said. “We earned both the past two seasons, and we look forward to working extremely hard this season and getting them both in the same season.”
Not that Tringali expects that to be an easy task.
“We understand how difficult it will be, but we feel as long as we stay healthy and that our culture is in the right place we can control our destiny,” he said.
The return of players such as senior forward Kennedy Gustafson, junior guard Penny Grob and sophomore guard/wing Mylah Simpson are a big part of Tringali’s optimism for the season.
Gustafson—who recently committed to play basketball and soccer at Wartburg College—is entering her fourth season at the varsity level. Grob is back for her third season and Simpson returns after shining as a freshman.
“Kennedy has a chance to finish her career as Saugatuck’s all-time leading rebounder,” Tringali said. “She has great size and strength with very good foot work for a post player.
“Penny is small in size, but big in effort, energy and attitude. She has grown leaps and bounds as a student and an athlete and is starting to show leadership qualities. She’s a great ball handler and perimeter shooter.
“Mylah is an elite athlete with major upside, can shoot from deep and has phenomenal ball skills to attack defenses and distribute to her teammates. She takes great pride in locking down opponent’s best player.”
Junior guard/wing Natalia Laskowski is one of the Trailblazers’ newcomers. She was previously homeschooled.
“Tali is a phenomenal athlete who’s extremely quick with a very high motor and loves to defend and attack the basket offensively,” Tringali said. “She showed great leadership and chemistry with our team as soon as she stepped on campus. We are so excited for what Tali brings to our program on and off the court.”
Junior Maggie Loomis and sophomore Nova DeGraff are among the other newcomers.
“We know firsthand that depth is the key and that most schools our size are one injury away from the season going in another direction,” Tringali said. “We feel if we can continue to develop our players, our strength can be adding much-needed depth to have a successful season.”