Preview: Basketball vs. SM West

Girls’ Basketball Preview by Taylor Norden:

After a 48-31 loss to Olathe East on Tuesday, the girls’ varsity team looks to take down league rival SM West. The Vikings are 4-2 on the season, while the Lancers are 1-5.

SM West will be a tough team to defend, according to head coach Austin Klumpe.

“They have a few big girls who like to crash, so we gotta really do a great job of boxing them out,” Klumpe said.

The Vikings will have an experience advantage over the Lancers, with a roster of six seniors and four juniors. East only has three seniors on the squad.

“We’ve got great senior leadership. Collectively, we are a younger program, but we also have great upperclassman and great leadership,” Klumpe said. “We need to make a few tweaks on how to read the defense better.”

Against SM North, the Lancers were able to figure out the defense early, which allowed them to create more scoring opportunities. However, the Viking defense is bigger and quicker than the North defense was.

Boys’ Basketball Preview by Julia Poe

Tonight the Lancers take on the 4-4 SM West Vikings at home. After a slow start to their season, the Lancers have moved to a 5-3 record and look to lengthen that tonight. Earlier in the week, the squad barely lost to a highly ranked Olathe East team, and their late-game comeback proved that the team is capable of competing at a high caliber.

However, the Lancers will be without junior Joey Wentz tonight, which will take a key factor away from their offense. Wentz was a powerful force for the Lancers throughout the season, both in the paint and from behind the three-point line. Without Wentz, the Lancers will rely on seniors Jack Flint and Gunnar Englund to bring the ball up and score from the outside, while senior Lucas Jones will continue to anchor both the offense and the defense in the paint.

The theme for both games tonight is SEC Gameday, and the MORP fundraiser dance will take place directly after the boys’ game in the cafeteria. Tonight’s games will be broadcasted live here at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.