Veterans a steadying presence for Broncos’ girls basketball

Although the Wauneta-Palisade girls basketball team is looking to fill holes in its starting lineup, the Broncos have solid players to build around.
Seniors GraCee Goings and Peyton Cox carried much of the offensive load for last year’s Broncos. The duo will continue to do so in 2023-2024.
WP Head Coach Matt Cox said the pair is great in helping coaches get things accomplished in practice.
“They keep everyone dialed in as we move from one drill to the next and are always pushing the young kids along,” Cox said.
Junior Izzy Stehno has practiced really well, Cox added, and he’s looking forward to seeing how it translates to game time  contributions for her.  
“We need three solid scorers and she’s shot mid range jumpers really well and we’ll need a lot of that to be competitive,” Cox continued.
WP will be missing Ryleigh McCrumb and Maggie DeWester due to injuries. Cox expected varsity contributions from both, so it was disappointing for everyone, he said.
With a large freshman class, Cox said he has the most players he’s ever had to manage.
Practices are going well, he continued, as he and Assistant Coach Colby Cox have learned to handle a larger roster.
WP starts off the season Thursday with a home game against Wallace, then tackles its first road test of the season Friday at Cambridge, D2-9 subdistrict opponent..
Cox pointed out that both teams are coming off trips to the state volleyball tournament.
Success in volleyball usually gives a team confidence as they transition into basketball season, Cox said. Cambridge was the Class D2 volleyball runner up in early November.
“We’ll have our work cut out for us for several weeks heading into Christmas break. We’ve got a tough schedule and there won’t be many easy ones along the way, but the girls are prepared and we’ll have some learning moments that we’ll have to work our way through,” Cox said
With the graduation of experienced seniors, Cox said it’s going to take some time to replace that with some young girls.
This year’s team will continue to improve on the consistent goals of Cox’s teams in the past,  their ability to control tempo, run a half court offense for extended periods of time and play really good defense full and half court.
“Our biggest challenge will be to consistently block out and rebound. We’ve made it a point of emphasis so far in this preseason work and it’ll be a huge factor if we’re going to accomplish what we want to this season,” Cox said.