Team Preview
Written by: Will Hoenike
There seems to be a theme around the Snake River Valley Conference this season when it comes to girls’ basketball – youth will be served. Parma is young. Weiser is young. Payette is young.
Add Fruitland to the list. The Grizzlies have 34 total girls in their program this season, varsity/junior varsity/freshmen, and exactly three of them are seniors.
It’s not uncommon to have some attrition through the years (it’s highly unlikely a varsity team would have 15 seniors, which is what Fruitland faces if every sophomore currently in the program continues to play for the next two seasons). But the SRV, as a conference, has a lot of high-impact non-seniors this season.
It lends itself to a wide-open season where multiple teams have a chance to break through and compete for a State Tournament berth. Head coach Madelyne Moore has to feel like her Grizzlies have as good of an opportunity as anyone else.
Fruitland returns 2nd Team All-SRV performer RaAnna Dahle to the fold. The senior forward will be a key cog in the Grizzlies’ engine as they look to advance in the standings this season. First-team All-SRV guard Mackenzie Collins and honorable mention All-SRV post player Taylor Lee have graduated, so finding a replacement for their production will be pivotal to Fruitland’s hopes this season.
Fellow seniors Sophie Cowgill and Jessica O’Dell will look to step into bigger roles for Fruitland this season, as will juniors Sydney Miller, Caitlin Rice, Carleigh LaCrone, Kylie Tolman and Madison Pedracini. That group of players, along with sophomores Madelyn Arnold, Allison Church, Kylie Thomas and Krigitt Futter, hold the keys to Fruitland’s future – both this season and beyond. That group needs to grow up fast on the court.
Moore told local media following an early-season win over New Plymouth that she’s been very happy with the strides the team has taken, which is a great sign. If the team can continue to develop as the season progresses, they’ll be a major factor in the SRV conference race.
Not exactly working in Fruitland’s favor is their late-season schedule, where they’ll run the SRV gauntlet in its final three games, playing at Weiser and Parma before returning home to conclude the regular season in its own gym against Homedale, one of three SRV teams to qualify for the 3A State Tournament last season. That’s a tough road to end the season, but one that should ensure the Grizzlies are battle-tested and ready for the ensuing District Tournament.
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