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Head Coach Brad Poppe will once again be coaching the Lady Pirates girls’ basketball team this 2024-2025 season. This is Poppe’s 30th season as the head coach of the Lady Pirates and his 38th year of coaching overall. Coach Poppe is assisted by coaches Becky Haenfler and Don Mudder. This year’s seniors that will be leading the team are Lila Vanderlei, Kinley Doom and Kaeli Wallinga. Lexi Vanderlei, Kate Swier and Abby Gretschmann are the team’s juniors. Sophomore team members include Rilyn Thury, Jordyn Voigt, Breanna Hento and Charlie Paulsen. Up and coming freshmen team members are Bree Vanderlei and Kaydence Metzger. Highlights from the Lady Pirate’s previous season include finishing with a record of 16-6 and at one point during the season having an 11-game winning streak. The main goal for the 2024-2025 basketball season is continuing to get better every day so that by the end of the season they will be a very competitive team in their region. Coach Poppe feels that this year’s schedule is fairly challenging and will help the team get better prepared for post season play. With teams like Corsica/Stickney, Centerville, Wagner, Gayville-Volin, Viborg/Hurley, AC/DC, Ethan, Burke, TDA, Freeman, etc. as their opponents the Lady Pirates know that there will be some tough games. The team will have respect for everyone on their schedule, but will play with no fear of any of them. Key players that will be looked at for leadership roles on the team are Lila Vanderlei, Rilyn Thury, Kinley Doom and Kaeli Wallinga. They have some young players on this year’s team that will have to step into new roles, but Coach Poppe feels like these young ladies are ready to accept the challenges that come with these new positions. As head coach, Poppe has been very fortunate to have coached many young ladies and this year’s team will be no different. He is looking forward to seeing how they grow as a team and progress throughout the season. Poppe is very excited about this year’s team. The season is always a journey and as a team they will be working every day towards making it a successful one. He knows this group of young ladies work hard, which makes him look even more forward to the upcoming season. Coach Poppe’s philosophy on building a successful program focuses on the need to continue to improve daily. If the team can do the little things well, it will only lead to bigger and better accomplishments. Being consistent both offensively and defensively will play a big role in accomplishing this. The Lady Pirates have their season opener at Gregory on December 10th at 6:30 p.m. Best of luck in the upcoming season. Go Pirates!