Grafton girls look to push the pace

This is the year Grafton High School girls’ basketball coach Matt D’Amato thinks he can install the speedy offense he wants.

“I do think overall we’re a pretty fast team. We want to play more up-tempo this year than last year. That’s the style that I think fits these girls best,” he said.

The Black Hawks, however, will be trying to move quicker while wearing masks, a requirement due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The team started wearing masks over summer to prepare.

“There were a lot of complaints. Those have all but stopped now. They’ve accepted the fact that this is how it’s going to be this year,” D’Amato said.

Scoring could come from a variety of sources this season. The top three scorers from last season ­— Lexi Hilgart, Julia Place and Mya Masse — graduated. Hilgart, who averaged a team-high 10 points and grabbed 4.1 rebounds per game, made the North Shore Conference second team last year and Place, who averaged 7.7 points and a team-leading 4.4 rebounds per game, made the third team.

D’Amato said he expects junior Ella Day to step up, as well as senior Allison Garncarz. Day was fifth on the team in scoring last season at 5.1 points per game and Garncarz was fourth with 6.4 per game.

D’Amato said he expects Ashley Weir to contribute as well.

“She put in time during quarantine, got a lot stronger. I’ve seen a lot of good things from her,” he said.

Two freshmen — Sarah Aleknavicius and Savannah James — are also expected to see time on varsity.

Sophomore Grace McNabb is one of the team’s best shooters but is recovering from a torn meniscus suffered during summer after tearing her ACL last season. She is due back in mid-January.

“When she’s ready to go, that’s going to be a big boost,” D’Amato said.

Junior Emily Grisar takes over for Masse at point guard, but she is one of two players in quarantine due to contact tracing. Junior Maddy Wille will fill in.

Defensively, D’Amato said, he will throw different looks at teams from man-to-man to zone.

The team’s first game against West Bend West on Nov. 24 was canceled since the Spartans didn’t have enough players due to contact tracing.

“We got three extra practices because of it, so that’s helped us,” D’Amato said.

With the extra time, the Hawks implemented a zone defense.

The team’s skill set this season caused D’Amato to change his coaching philosophy. He wanted to run a fast style of play last year, but the seniors were more deliberate, he said.

“This year we dove head first into a new offense and defense,” he said.

Besides a quicker offense, D’Amato put in a defense that is more disruptive as opposed to last season’s packing into the paint.

Because the players are wearing masks, D’Amato said he plans to go 10 deep to provide breaks.

“I’ve tried running around with them in practice and it’s not fun,” he said.

D’Amato said he expects Slinger, Homestead and Hartford — last season’s 2-3-4 finishers — to be contenders for the conference title, although he said he recognizes lineups can change on a moment’s notice with Covid-19.

“I would like us to be up there too,” he said.

Defending NSC champ West Bend West lost the school’s all-time leading scorer Maddie Baker to graduation.

The Hawks were to start at Cedarburg on Tuesday, host West Bend East on Friday, non-conference foe Valders on Saturday and Homestead on Tuesday, Dec. 8.