Lynnville-Sully Girls Basketball: Reloading project for Hawks

Despite losing two of the top three scorers from a team that went 15-8 last season, Lynnville-Sully girls basketball coach Jerry Hulsing believes success is in the future for his Hawks. Hulsing lost a pair of starters from last year, Courtney Van Wyk and Breianne Rozendaal. Van Wyk led the Hawks with 10.3 points per matchup while Rozendaal scored 7.2 points a game. But Hulsing, in his 17th year at the helm, said that there are some quality players coming back who will make an instant impact. “We have five or six kids that have experience coming back,” said Hulsing. “We have some experience, and we’re trying to build on that. We feel we have a solid foundation coming back, and we have quite a few kids that have been through the battles.” And for that success to occur, the Hawks will need to stay away from the injury bug. Lynnville-Sully returns six letterwinners from last season, led by senior Cyvannah Doll. For the second half of last season, the Hawks were without Doll due to a season-ending injury. Doll averaged 8.6 points per game in eight starts last season. Moving past Doll, the Hawks return a versatile player in sophomore Tara Van Rees. She’s the leading returning scorer for the Hawks, averaging 8.4 points per game. Van Rees led the Hawks last year with 5.6 rebounds per outing. “We have a couple freshmen in Tara Van Rees and Danielle Samson that played last year,” said Hulsing. “Now as sophomores, they know what it’s going to take, and they’ll take that step up. Mariah Terlouw and Tessa Engle played a lot as sophomores, and we’re also looking for a little leadership there.” Samson started in 21 games last year, averaging 6 points per game while Engle scored 3.5 points per game in starting 17 contests. But for the Hawks to succeed, they’ll have to rely on playing some inexperienced players — 14-of-21 players on the team are freshmen. “We don’t have a lot of kids that are ready to step into the varsity role, and we’re asking some young kids to step up and be leaders,” said Hulsing, whose team finished third last season in the SICL.