Whiteland sophomore guard Addison Emberton, right, is the team’s second-leading scorer at 10 points per game.
Daily Journal file photo
If won-loss records are the ultimate barometer of how much a team is improving, Whiteland girls basketball is aimed in the correct direction.
Kellie Kirkhoff wants to see it every day in practice, too.
Kirkhoff, in her second season as coach, leads a Whiteland team that at 7-8 has positioned itself to vie for its first winning record since 2018-19.
Last season’s squad won six games; the year before that, it was five.
Progress.
“I think we’ve really emphasized getting better every day and learning to compete every day,” Kirkhoff said. “Obviously, you always have room to grow, and you compete harder some days than others, but I am happy with their progress.
“The girls now understand the effort expectation. They have a better understanding of where the bar is set.”
Junior forward Gwen Higdon averages a team-high 13.8 points a game, while sophomore guard Addison Emberton is next at 10.0 a contest. Completing the starting lineup are senior guard Emma Piercy (7.4 ppg) and 5-foot-11 freshmen Sophia Dyer (6.6 points, 6.8 rebounds) and Carly Von Dielingen (5.8 points, 6.2 boards).
The 5-foot-8 Higdon has reached double figures in all but two games this season, her best outings being 28 points in a win over Decatur Central and 24 in a loss to New Palestine. She is also the team’s third-leading rebounder at 5.3 a game.
Off the bench, soph guard Sukhman Bains (4.3 ppg), 6-foot senior Brooklyn Taylor and junior Claire Coryell make their presence felt.
Seven different Warriors players have started at one time or another this season.
One of them, Taylor, wasn’t able to play last season but is enjoying her current role.
“My sophomore year, I thought I sprained my ankle. We found out that June that I had an extra bone in my left foot, and I had to have that surgically removed,” Taylor said. “It feels great to be back. I missed being on the court with the girls.”
Whiteland doesn’t return to action until Jan. 4 when it hosts Beech Grove.
Until then, the Warriors, off to a 3-0 start against Mid-State Conference opponents, will use practices to attempt to improve in every facet while better defining individual roles.
The Warriors are at Greenwood on Jan. 6, host Franklin on Jan. 21 and conclude league play six days later at Mooresville. The Grizzly Cubs and Pioneers are also undefeated in the conference heading into the new year.
Kirkhoff, an all-Crossroads League guard and third-team NAIA All-American her senior season at Marian University (2017-18), scored 1,622 points in her career and was a part of two national championship teams. She remains at or near the top of numerous career statistical categories for the Knights.
“Kellie is probably one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever coached,” said Katie Gearlds, who coached Kirkhoff at Marian and is now the head women’s coach at Purdue. “I called her ‘Big Girl,’ and I still call her ‘Big Girl’ to this day, because that’s just how she played. She always played big in big games. Her ability to put a (scouting report) together and translate it on the court and be able to help everybody to every different spot — she just saw the game differently, and the kids just wanted to win. Whatever it took, she wanted to win.”
Kirkhoff expected a lot of herself as a player; she does the same now as a coach, and her players are responding.
“We play as hard as we possibly can, and coach Kirkhoff does a great job pushing us,” Taylor said. “She coaches attitude and effort, so she wants us to go 100% all the time. I love playing for her.
“She knows the game, loves the game and just has a passion for it.”
