Unselfish play, offensive confidence has Western Technical women’s hoops back in postseason

Western Technical women’s basketball didn’t need much time to gel with first-year head coach Brent Thill’s new system. After five weeks of emphasizing transition offense and instilling the desire to take the open shot in each of the Cavaliers, Thill watched his team win their season opener by more than 100 points. It set a strong tone for the program, which is now back in the Region XIII A Tournament this weekend.

At 20-6, the Cavaliers have two All-Conference players in Necedah alum Lindsey Murphy and Holmen native Caitlin Young, but their whole lineup contributes to their up-tempo offense (almost 80 points per game)and shutdown defense (56 points allowed per game). For Thill, this team has been a high achiever since day one.

“We work a lot on shooting and different skill work. They did a really nice job at the beginning of the year, and it just took off from there,” Thill said.

“Our confidence is pretty high, seeing as we just beat the number one seed by 20 last Saturday,” sophomore Makenna Gabel said. “One thing that I think really stands out about us is we’re not selfish. As you can see from our stats, our team averages very high in assists. We’re always looking to play for each other. It’s not individual play. We’re playing for each other.”

Western Technical averages 18 assists per game but have had numerous games of assist totals around 30.

The Cavaliers are the MCAC South’s two seed into the women’s Region XIII A Tournament and will play Minnesota West Saturday. The region tournament winner advances to the national tournament.

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