C4 WINTER SPORTS Heiss leads young, but experienced, Irish girls THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2020
By TIM JOHNSON tim.johnson@nptelegraph.com Rachel Heiss is the lone senior on the roster but it doesn’t mean that the Irish are an inexperienced team. St. Pat’s returns three starters — Tonja Heirigs, Kate Stienike and Jenna Kimberling — to join Heiss, who is back after suffering a knee injury last season. Jayla Fleck also made a handful of starts as a sophomore. The core returners lead a group that posted a 17-8 mark in the 2019-20 campaign. St. Pat’s has won four of its first five games to open this year and done it with a style that addresses the team’s short- comings. “There’s not a lot of height (on the roster) so we have to make up for the lack of that by playing fast, pressing and shooting (3-pointers),” Irish coach Nathan Stienike said. St. Pat’s has held each of its five opponents so far to 40 points or less, but Stienike said the Irish don’t set any defensive goals going into a game. “We don’t really do that. We just try to have as much ball pressure as we can,” Stienike said. “We trap, we press and try to get (an oppo- nent) to turn it over as much as possible to get those add- ed possessions that we might lose on the rebounding bat- tles. “We don’t have too many goals,” Stienike said. “Our main one is to look at the scoreboard at the end (of the game) and hope that we had done enough good things to get the win.”
Telegraph file photo Tonja Heirigs of St. Pat’s lifts a shot over the outstretched hands of a several Chase County defenders during a game at McGahan Activities Center in February 2020.
Heirigs did a lot of good things last year as a freshman. She scored 478 points to set the program record for a season.
She averaged a team-high 18.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game overall. “The nice thing is that she can score from about any- where,” Stienike said. “She is a very good 3-point shoot- er, got a good mid-range game and then she is pretty cagey around the hoop. She also is a good free throw shooter — a complete offensive package. “It’s definitely nice hav- ing her back again,” Stienike said. “She already is averag- ing around 19 points a game and our offensive definite- ly runs through her. Then we also have a lot of guards who can shoot and (sophomore) Mae Siegel has done a good
job running the f loor and getting some layups in tran- sition. “We’re trying to score in a lot of ways,” Stienike said. “We’re not really going to post anybody. We are just going to have good ball move- ment and try and get a good shot up each possession.” The Irish have 11 players on the roster and seven have been in the main rotation so far this year. Bridgeport, which re- turns experience and size, and Chase County appear to be the teams to beat in the SPVA this season. The Irish finished third in the confer- ence tournament — losing on
a buzzer-beater in the semi- finals — and Stienike feels his team should be in the mix again this season. “We feel really comfortable with that top seven and we might go to eight eventually,” Stienike said. “We’ve got a group where every game and every practice we are trying to get better. Hopefully we are playing our best basketball come SPVA tournament- and district time. I think we will. “We are a work in prog- ress and still have quite a few things to work on,” Stienike said. “Once we get some lit- tle things cleaned up, I really am encouraged about how our season is going to go.”
Schedule Dec. 22. ...................................................................... at Ogallala Dec. 28-29........................................Arapahoe Holiday Tourney Jan. 5............................................................. at Anselmo-Merna Jan. 8.................................................................. Perkins County Jan. 9.............................................................................at Cozad Jan. 12...............................................................................Mullen Jan. 15............................................................................ Overton Jan. 18-23.......................................................SPVA Tournament Jan. 30......................................................................... at Kimball Feb. 2............................................................................ at Paxton Feb. 5................................................................ at Chase County Feb. 6......................................................................... Cambridge Feb. 9..................................................... Dundy County-Stratton Feb. 11............................................................................Hershey
Irish boys team shows early signs of being explosive
to No. 4-seed Laurel-Concord- Coleridge. As the Irish continue to play their early contests, O’Malley said he’s seeing areas where St. Pat’s need to improve. “I think probably just over- all execution improved, and it needs to continue to improve,” he said after the Sutherland game. “I thought in the half- court, they did a really good job being physical with us, and we need to be a lot better screening and getting one an- other open going forward.” St. Pat’s has a variety of scoring options, and it usu- ally differs depending on the night. Corby Condon is in the point guard role and aside from dishing the ball to his teammates, he also has a sol- id long-range shot. He hit St. Pat’s first 3-pointer of the sea- son in the first quarter against the Sailors. Jack Heiss has proven to be a threat from all over. He can shoot from outside, and he has a knack for attacking the bas- ket. Once inside, he’ll either go up with the ball or find the open man for an easy basket. “Jack is a really difficult matchup,” O’Malley said. “He’s able to shoot the ball with a good deal of accura- cy, and his athleticism when he puts the ball on the f loor creates a lot of offense for the rest of our guys too. He’s real-
By JAKE DREILINGER jake.dreilinger@nptelegraph.com The St. Pat’s boys basketball team only put up 36 points in its season opening win against Broken Bow on Dec. 4. At the time, coach Bill O’Malley said he wasn’t sure what he was going to get out of his team since it was the first game. “I think both teams had pret- ty good matchups,” O’Malley said. “Athletically, there weren’t a lot of spots where anybody had a real decided ad- vantage.” Since then, the Irish have exploded in games that com- pletely differed from the opener, earning a 67-24 win over Sutherland the next day, then dropping 72 points against Creek Valley and de- feating district rival Maxwell 55-29. Then came the Hershey game. St. Pat’s struggled to keep their late lead afloat, and when they desperately need- ed points to combat a surging Panthers team at the end, only an Alex Davies floater in the paint provided the only points. It’s 39-37 last-second loss to Hershey is the only blemish on an otherwise great start for a team looking to make it back to the state tournament. Last season, the Irish entered state as the No. 1-seed in Class D1, but fell in the semifinals
Telegraph file photo Jack Heiss (2) of St. Pat’s drives to the basket against Sandhills/Thedford during the district tour- nament in February 2020.
Schedule Dec. 22. .......................................................................at Ogallala Dec. 28-29........................................ Arapahoe Holiday Tourney Jan. 5.............................................................. at Anselmo-Merna Jan. 8................................................................... Perkins County Jan. 9..............................................................................at Cozad Jan. 12................................................................................Mullen Jan. 15............................................................................. Overton Jan. 18-23....................................................... SPVA Tournament Jan. 30.......................................................................... at Kimball Feb. 5.................................................................at Chase County Feb. 6.......................................................................... Cambridge Feb. 9...................................................... Dundy County-Stratton Feb. 11.............................................................................Hershey Feb. 19...........................................................................at Paxton
“The games are coming pretty quickly here at the be- ginning of the season, and the coaches biggest concerns were just that we would come out and play with a lot of energy,” O’Malley said after the Creek Valley game. “We weren’t real sharp execution wise from the beginning, but I thought we did have good energy and so that got us off to a good start.”
ecution in working the ball inside. Caleb Mundon has emerged off the bench lately and excelled in providing some spark in the offense late in the game. Even with St. Pat’s great start to the season, O’Malley said he wants to see his team come out and play with a lot of energy, especially with how quickly the games are coming.
ly a key guy for us.” Joseph Heirigs is another player who can help move the ball around and can get some easy baskets when open. Logan O’Malley was the hot-hand during the Sutherland game, where he dropped a team-high 16 points in the win. Davies has slid mostly into St. Pat’s big-man role and is usually part of the Irish’s ex-
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