PREVIEW: 'Cats hope to shine despite key injury

     When the Maquoketa Valley High School girls basketball team learned it had lost junior Emerson Whittenbaugh for the season due to a knee injury, it changed the focus and goals for this year’s Wildcats.

     “My main concern going into the season is, how do we make up for what we lost to graduation and injury?” 14^th-year coach Scot Moenck said. “Emerson brings so much to the table night in and night out. (Her injury) really makes us a different team. We have some pretty big shoes to fill. We talked with our kids that we have to do it collectively, that each person will have to do something extra to make up for what we lost.”

     Moenck said he might just have the team to do that, without Whittenbaugh, a 12-point-per-game scorer who was first team all-conference in the Tri-Rivers last year.

     The Wildcats have six other returning letter-winners, led by Ella Imler, a 5-foot-6 junior guard who averaged eight points per game and was voted second team all-conference.

     Also back are 5-10 senior forward Brooke Elgin, 5-9 junior forward Taya Tucker, 5-9 sophomore forward Kylie Chesnut, and sophomore guards Carissa Sabers and Caelyn Sands. Trista Elgin is a 5-9 freshman guard who shows promise, the coach said.

     “We have a lot of girls who can do many different things on the floor,” Moenck said. “We lack a lot of playing experience. However, this is a very good group of kids, and we will get better as the year goes on.”

     The always-tough Tri-Rivers includes three teams that made it to the state tournament last year: North Linn, Springville and Bellevue Marquette. Moenck said North Linn and East Buchanan are likely West Division favorites coming into this season.

     “We have the potential to be very, very good as well, but we will have to be ready to go every night.”

     Assistant coaches are Brad Huber, Jesse Wooten and Heidi Hoeger.