Brunswick nips Generals in Sectional finals; WHS caps 15-6 campaign
It didn’t end the way the Wooster girls basketball coach Mike Baus envisioned, but the simple reality for Baus and every other coach in Ohio is that only one team ends the season happy.
The Generals’ 2010-11 campaign came to an end Feb. 26 with a 57-49 loss to Brunswick in the Division I Medina Sectional finals. Overall, Wooster won 15 of its 21 games this year.
“We’re really pleased with the year we had,” said Baus. “We definitely left the tournament earlier than we wanted to, but looking back on the year, the program took a couple steps forward. The varsity finished 15-6 and out of our six losses, in five of them we were winning or three points down with two minutes to go. Our JV finished 17-1 and was first in the OCC and our freshmen were 9-3 and they were first in the OCC.
“We didn’t get all our goals,” said Baus, reflecting on the varsity’s 10-4 league mark and a share of the runner-up spot, “but we accomplished the majority. We just left a few short.”
The Generals stood 5-3 and 3-3 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference a third of the way through their season, but went 10-3 the remainder of the way, including a five-game winning streak heading into the Brunswick game.
“The girls worked hard all year and it was a fun season, which made it all the more enjoyable,” said Baus.
Baus and the Generals are looking for big things next season since they graduated only thee seniors – Ashley Evans, Erica Lust and Emily Kacsandi. Anchored by first-team all-OCC starters Lauren Walker (16.2 points per game) and Halle Gallo-Malta (14.3), and second-teamer Claire Ballard, the Generals have the bulk of their starters back along with any number of JV and freshman players looking to break into the varsity.
“We’re excited to have a full summer (of preparation),” said Baus. “Last year we started July 1 and missed the month of June. We’re regrouping after the tournament loss and working hard planning out the next couple of months.”
The late start a year ago was a result of Baus not being formally hired by the school board until July. While he hit the ground running, there was still a learning curve on his part.
“Probably the biggest adjustment was how to use your time,” he said. “Being my first year as head coach I put in a ton of time. I don’t regret that – I enjoyed that. But, as a coach gets more experience, they understand this needs be done and this doesn’t. You have a better grip of timing. It’s all part of the learning process. Now we’ll evaluate the program top to bottom, keep what we like and [get rid of] what we didn’t. It should be exciting for next year with what we have coming up.”
The Generals’ 2010-11 campaign came to an end Feb. 26 with a 57-49 loss to Brunswick in the Division I Medina Sectional finals. Overall, Wooster won 15 of its 21 games this year.
“We’re really pleased with the year we had,” said Baus. “We definitely left the tournament earlier than we wanted to, but looking back on the year, the program took a couple steps forward. The varsity finished 15-6 and out of our six losses, in five of them we were winning or three points down with two minutes to go. Our JV finished 17-1 and was first in the OCC and our freshmen were 9-3 and they were first in the OCC.
“We didn’t get all our goals,” said Baus, reflecting on the varsity’s 10-4 league mark and a share of the runner-up spot, “but we accomplished the majority. We just left a few short.”
The Generals stood 5-3 and 3-3 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference a third of the way through their season, but went 10-3 the remainder of the way, including a five-game winning streak heading into the Brunswick game.
“The girls worked hard all year and it was a fun season, which made it all the more enjoyable,” said Baus.
Baus and the Generals are looking for big things next season since they graduated only thee seniors – Ashley Evans, Erica Lust and Emily Kacsandi. Anchored by first-team all-OCC starters Lauren Walker (16.2 points per game) and Halle Gallo-Malta (14.3), and second-teamer Claire Ballard, the Generals have the bulk of their starters back along with any number of JV and freshman players looking to break into the varsity.
“We’re excited to have a full summer (of preparation),” said Baus. “Last year we started July 1 and missed the month of June. We’re regrouping after the tournament loss and working hard planning out the next couple of months.”
The late start a year ago was a result of Baus not being formally hired by the school board until July. While he hit the ground running, there was still a learning curve on his part.
“Probably the biggest adjustment was how to use your time,” he said. “Being my first year as head coach I put in a ton of time. I don’t regret that – I enjoyed that. But, as a coach gets more experience, they understand this needs be done and this doesn’t. You have a better grip of timing. It’s all part of the learning process. Now we’ll evaluate the program top to bottom, keep what we like and [get rid of] what we didn’t. It should be exciting for next year with what we have coming up.”
Published: March 3, 2011
