Scouting Maine West girls basketball

Maine West

Coach: Derril Kipp (31st year)

Last year: 12-20, 8-2

Graduated players: Carly Martin, Katherine Kusner, Kayla Kennelly, Stephanie O'Neil, Nicole Burkhardt, Krystina Cook

Returning players: Amanda Hoye (5-6 Sr. G), Megan John (5-7 Sr. G), Libby Krcik (5-5 Sr. F), Ashley Collins (6-0 Jr. F), Brittany Collins (6-1 So. F), Sara Stepanovich (5-8 Sr. F), Bridget Burger (5-4 Jr. G)

Newcomers: Brittany Andler (5-3 Jr. G), Georgia Petersen (5-8 Jr. G), Taylor Iaculla (5-3 Jr. G), Alexi Prosperi (5-7 Jr. G), Pha Thaprawat (5-4 Jr. G), Samantha Whalen (5-9 Jr. F), Kassandra Pineso (5-6 Jr. G), Genesis Vargas (5-6 Jr. G), Julia Huinker (6-3 So. C)

Scouting report: Coach Derril Kipp enters his 31st season with 720 career wins and the Hall of Famer hopes this year's group can add significantly to that total. Sophomore Brittany Collins was the Warriors' top scorer (14.3 ppg) and rebounder (10.1) as a freshman. "She will play outside," Kipp said. "It's nice to have her back. She will have a little bit more of an expanded role. We're looking for her to score even more. She has been shooting very well from the outside." Kipp said the Warriors must improve the shooting and ball possession from last year. "We shot under 40 percent and we turned the ball over (20 turnovers per game) too much last season," Kipp said. "Hopefully, with two seniors in the backcourt (Hoye and John) that will help with fewer turnovers. Even our free throw shooting was not very good last year." The Warriors, who were second in the CSL North last season, have won 23 conference championship under Kipp. "I think we should do pretty well as far as improving from last season," Kipp said. "But it depends on how the others teams are in the conference."