Danbury looking to expedite rebuild

DANBURY — After two tough seasons, Danbury coach Dick Heller is confident that his team can return to its winning ways. The Lakers, who have five upperclassmen, return all but one player, and feature plenty of players who, as Heller put it, experienced "baptism by fire" last season. Danbury features a three-guard lineup and four of its starters are Gabrielle Maringer, a 5-7 point guard, her sister, Maria, a 5-6 wing, Kamil Stephens, a 5-4 guard and Kelly Uhinck, a 5-9 post. Natalie Rose, a 5-9 post, and Kayla Rodriguez, a 5-8 post who is recovering from a knee injury, are currently battling for the final spot. Whoever doesn't get the final starting spot will be one of the first reserves off the bench. The primary reserves will be Leah Brown, a 5-9 wing, and Mia McDonald, a 5-9 post. The rest of the roster includes Ellie Fish, a 5-4 guard, Hannah Bickley, a 5-7 post, Emma Holzaepfel, a 5-3 wing, and Sam Timberding, a 5-10 post. "In a couple of scrimmages, we looked good. In others, we had our moments of not looking good. Consistency is going to be key for us," said Heller, who has a storied career that includes successful stops in Oak Harbor and Lakota and over 300 career victories. "A lot of that experience was gained by freshmen last year. They're playing really hard, the skills have improved, and we're looking for them to show up and improve on what we did last year. "Gabrielle has been pretty solid, Kelly has looked really good, Natalie has looked good from time to time, Maria will give us everything she's got — she's a nice plus for us. Leah will give us good minutes off the bench, Kamil is doing some nice things, Kayla gives us some more depth this year that we haven't had in the past, along with Mia." The Lakers, who went 7-13 and 6-8 in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division last year, have a unit comprised of three seniors, two juniors, six sophomores and one freshman. "I'm pretty confident, really," Heller said. "We are excited about this group, they showed a lot of promise last year being young. We've got a lot of young players coming in. I feel like we've got a good chance to be very competitive and fight for a place in the top four (of the conference)." Danbury doesn't have a great deal of size — there are four players that are 5-9 and one who is 5-10. The team will have to use its athleticism to its advantage. "There's going to be a lot of movement (on offense). We have to keep the kids moving in the hopes of getting the defense off balance once in a while and score," Heller said. "Our posts have to be able to recognize who they're going against and use what we've worked with them on to combat the size difference. "Our athleticism is very important. We've got to control the boards and take care of the basketball. We've got some talent, sometimes they go too fast and do too much. Our athleticism has to be our big point because we have to face bigger teams and we're going to have to get after them." Heller knows his group will have to use its quickness on defense, as well. "Defensively speaking, we have to put pressure on the ball without letting them penetrate, cover shooters and defend inside. We'll throw a mixture of things out at (the opposition)," he said. "We will have to play very aggressively to be able to compete against the higher echelon of teams in the league. Not that we don't have to play hard against everybody. The River Division should be very competitive, as it usually is. Heller notes that there are new coaches at Hopewell-Loudon, St. Mary Central Catholic and Lakota. "The league is tough," Heller said. "Hopewell-Loudon has been dominant the last few years, but they lost a few key players. New Riegel only lost 1-2 seniors, they're good. Old Fort is always tough, and they've got really good players. St. Joe's was coming on last year at times, Gibsonburg is having some growing pains, but they'll play scrappy and aggressive. You always have to be aware of Calvert. St. Mary was down a little bit last year, and the coaching situation wasn't settled until school began. They've always been tough as well. Lakota, we struggled with them, they play really scrappy and really hard, they're going to be a force. We have to come in every night ready to play." No. Name Pos. Ht. Yr. 1&emsp;&emsp;Gabrielle Maringer&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-7&emsp;&emsp;12 3&emsp;&emsp;Kamil Stephens&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-4&emsp;&emsp;11 11&emsp;&emsp;Emma Holzaepfel&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-3&emsp;&emsp;12 12&emsp;&emsp;Sam Timberding&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-10&emsp;&emsp;10 14&emsp;&emsp;Kelly Uhnick&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-9&emsp;&emsp;10 21&emsp;&emsp;Maria Maringer&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-6&emsp;&emsp;10 23&emsp;&emsp;Leah Brown&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-9&emsp;&emsp;10 30&emsp;&emsp;Ellie Fish&emsp;&emsp;G&emsp;&emsp;5-4&emsp;&emsp;10 33&emsp;&emsp;Natalie Rose&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-9&emsp;&emsp;11 41&emsp;&emsp;Kayla Rodriguez&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-8&emsp;&emsp;12 42&emsp;&emsp;Hannah Bickley&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-7&emsp;&emsp;10 43&emsp;&emsp;Mia McDonald&emsp;&emsp;F&emsp;&emsp;5-9&emsp;&emsp;9