Cromwell Girls Basketball Players Filling New Roles as They Look to Continue Recent Success
After graduating Taya and Shaily Hakamaki last season, the Cardinals have turned to their veterans to step up in new roles, which has led them to a 4-1 record so far this season.
CROMWELL, Minn. – The Cromwell girls basketball team has a bit of a different look this season after graduating a few big players last year, including Taya and Shaily Hakamaki.
The Cardinals are young this year and have had to rely on their veterans to step up in new ways.
“Some of the players that were playing last year weren’t really lead players and now they are. We knew we had to step up and we knew we had to fill those roles and we’re just doing the best we can,” senior forward Katherine Libbon said.
“Andrea [Pocernich] and Natalee [Hakamaki] are both two year starters instead of just being role players, they’re the go-to girls now and I’ve got two first year seniors starting who have played a lot but they haven’t been starters. Our expectations are still about the same but it’s all new roles,” head coach Jeff Gronner added.
Things have been going pretty well for the Cardinals as they’re currently 4-1 on the season with just one loss to Mesabi East. After losing just two games last season and being one of the last teams remaining before COVID shut down the state tournament, Cromwell is hoping to use their tough games to make another deep playoff run.
“We just kind of wanted to come back and show that we’re still a fighting force. We’re really young so we know that we have a lot of things to work on so having a game like that really showed us a lot of the things that we do really need to focus on in order to compete in the postseason,” junior guard Andrea Pocernich said.
“Mesabi East is a good team, they defend really well, that’s good for us. Win or lose, I want to play the tough competition teams that will give us a good test of where our team is at right now,” Gronner added.
The Cardinals will look to keep it rolling on Monday at Proctor.
