When a team brings in a new head coach, adjusting can be difficult. After the varsity girls basketball team started the season 1-3, it appeared to many that maybe the addition of Head Coach Joe Huppenthal would not work out the way the team envisioned.

Following the team’s 34-22 win over Hobart on Tuesday, Dec. 6, which marked their fifth straight win, it finally appeared that the team was beginning to buy into what Huppenthal has been selling.  

“There haven’t been many challenges. The girls have been great. We’ve tried to keep things simple. We’ve tried to keep things relatively conducive to what they’ve done in the past, and our coaching staff has done a great job,” Huppenthal said. “I think their comfort zone is good; it’s just now we got to get better everyday.”

The team has been successful in large part to major contributions from Lauren Lawdowski (11). Lawdowski, who leads the team in assists and leads all guards in points per game, had her biggest impact against Hobart down the stretch when she converted on two three-point attempts within a minute to expand the Indians’ lead.

“We work all the time in the mornings on three’s and we need that; we just have to hit them. Regardless of if we’re making them or not, we just have to keep shooting and eventually they’re going to fall,” Ladowski said.

Despite being shutout in the second quarter, the Indians were still able to head into halftime with a 10-8 lead, only to see Hobart quickly take a 13-12 lead in the third, causing Huppenthal to call a timeout. Whatever it was that Huppenthal told them must have worked because the team then went on a 16-3 run that Hobart was unable to recover from.

“We just had to keep talking on defense, keep our heads on, and even though there were long possessions, we just had to keep talking. [Because of the press defense] we got a lot of steals right off the bat. We have a lot of quick guards so we can get a lot of steals,” Kylie Fehrman (12) said.

When asked what some keys down the stretch of the season would be Fehrman only had two things to say: “Stay together and teamwork.” Whatever the strategy may be, it appears to be working for Huppenthal and his team.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Kylie Fehrman (12) gets patted down as a part of her pregame handshake. Fehrman is one of two seniors on the team.