Pioneer girls basketball preview: Strycker, McKaig among top returnees as McWherter begins second coaching stint

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

ROYAL CENTER — David McWherter and Dale Samuels might be names synonymous with Pioneer basketball. They just have not been lately.

Their association as coaches began in the 1980s and resumes today when the Pioneer girls kick off their season at Tri-County.

McWherter is starting his second stint as Pioneer girls coach, previously having coached the team from 2011-15. He also coached the Pioneer boys from 2004-09.

Samuels is also a former Pioneer boys coach, and McWherter used to be his assistant.

Now Samuels is assisting McWherter, and Leann Bandelier, a Logansport grad who coached the Pioneer junior high girls last year, will fill out the staff.

Pioneer played 12 varsity games this summer and 10 JV games, including a doubleheader at Rochester to close out the summer. They also had open gyms four days a week in June.

“They work extremely hard,” McWherter said of his new players. “They’re coachable. They work hard. They definitely look to improve. They want to improve. I’m very satisfied and happy with the effort we’ve had in that.”

McWherter will oversee a roster with its top two scorers and rebounders back in senior Makenna Strycker, a Wittenberg University verbal commit, and junior Mia McKaig.

Two other experienced seniors are back in Julia McGrew and Kynzie Hathaway. There are also two newcomer seniors in twin sisters Michelle and Rachel Harding.

Strycker will return to the point guard role after McWherter mulled moving her to more of an off-the-ball role. But one projected starter decided not to come out for basketball, and another transferred.

McWherter said he’s changed the offense even since June. He said the tempo might be slower, but he would still like guards like Strycker pursue the “secondary break.”

So Strycker is back at the point. McWherter said Strycker’s dribble penetration is “key to our offense.”

“Well, she’s done a very good job this summer, especially in our Wednesday night league (at West Lafayette) we played the first couple weeks,” McWherter said. “We actually played extremely well, and she looked to get the ball and distribute it to others, especially in the open court. We ran a lot of fast breaks and up and down the court and open things up offensively early in the summer. She did a really good job of finding her teammates on fast breaks.”

McGrew is listed as a forward.

“JuJu this year is going to be more of a wing,” McWherter said. “I mean, she can play both (wing and post), but we need her to play more of the wing position this year. She’s going to have to help handle the ball and work in press breakers a lot more than she did last year, and she’s very much aware of that also. We are looking for that kind of production from her, handling the basketball a little bit and taking a little bit of the pressure off Makenna at the point position at times actually.”

Meanwhile, Hathaway averaged 1.5 points and 3.6 rebounds pergame last year.

“She’s going to have to play a little bit of both at times, but the majority of the time, she’s more of a post player for us,” McWherter said when asked if Hathaway is more of a wing or a post. “She’s done a real good job… of looking to score and being a little more aggressive on offense. Because in the past, she hasn’t looked to score on the catch. She’s more of a distributor from that post position. But she’s getting better at it, and she knows that I’m looking for her to get herself some scoring opportunities.”

The Harding twins starred on Pioneer’s conference champion track team in the spring. Michelle is listed at 5-7, and Rachel is listed at 5-8.

“I don’t think Michelle has played since junior high, but Rachel played back when she was a sophomore,” McWherter said. “Both of them are extremely athletic – long, lanky girls. Working on their fundamentals and their basketball skills are going to be key for them, but both of them are extremely good athletes.”

McKaig made 25 3-pointers last year. The rest of the team made only 31 combined.

“She’s always been an extremely smart basketball player,” McWherter said. “She does a really good job of being a leader for us. Even as an underclassman last year as a sophomore, she was a leader for us. And we’re going to get a little more of that leadership role on her this year. She continues to improve on her ballhandling and her aggressiveness of getting to the basket. Obviously, we’re going to need her to be able to knock some shots down and also help Makenna with the ballhandling skills at times.”

Hannah Zeigler is a 5-9 junior and will join Hathaway in the post.

“We continue to work on getting her to chin the basketball and use her size to her advantage on the blocks and so forth and just try to get her a little quicker on her step and her movements to the basket, but she’s doing a very good job of up-and-under moves and turn-and-face and drop-steps obviously and actually has done a really good job at the short corner position a little bit for us this year of hitting some of those little 10, 12-footers from the short corner. And also at the high post, she’s done a nice job at that too.”

Sophomores on the varsity include Brooklynn Dillman, Avery Haselby and Khloe Weaver. Haselby is more of a perimeter player. The versatile Dillman will also see time on the JV.

“Khloe Weaver was basically the starting point guard last year for my JV team,” McWherter said. “Twisted her ankle early in the season and missed a big chunk of the season. That set her behind a little bit, but she had a really good summer, contributed a lot at handling the basketball for us this summer. She’s going to need to obviously continue to improve and not just her ballhandling and that but also her confidence on the court. But that will come with time and playing time. Early in the year, I’m sure she’s going to struggle a little bit, but as the year goes on, she’s athletic, she loves the game of basketball, she loves to play, and she’s a real nice shooter on the perimeter. I think as confidence comes about as the year goes on, she’s going to get better and better.”

Asked about team goals, McWherter cited being competitive in both the Cass County Invitational and the Indiana Kitchen Classic. But more broadly, he wants to see improvement.

“We definitely want to just keep improving and make ourselves better each and every week and obviously from game to game and so forth,” McWherter said. “And we want to be peaking when it comes to sectional time.”

Pioneer girls basketball schedule

Nov. 9 – at Tri-County, 11 a.m.

Nov. 12 – vs. Southwood, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 19 – at Clinton Central, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 23 – vs. Culver, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 26 – vs. Wabash, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 3 – vs. Lewis Cass, 6 p.m. (Cass County Invitational, first round)

Dec. 7 – vs. Caston or Logansport (Cass County Invitational at Logansport)

Dec. 10 – at North Miami, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 12 – vs. North White, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 14 – vs. LaPorte, 3:30 p.m.

Dec. 17 – at Caston, 7:30 p.m.