Raider Girls Basketball

Girls teams flying under the radar

Susan Harman • Iowa City Press-Citizen • January 14, 2011

A couple area girls teams are having outstanding albeit stealth-like seasons. Williamsburg and Regina have lost but one game apiece and yet have been somewhat under the radar because they are dominating their respective conferences.

The Raiders' loss came on the road to Class 1A top-ranked Martensdale-St. Marys, 52-45 on Jan. 3. The Raiders were ranked eighth but demoted to 11th after that loss. They are in control of the WaMaC West division with a game and a half lead over Benton.

Williamsburg coach Aaron Feddersen added the Martensdale-St. Marys game to give his team a challenge.

"I'm glad we had it when we did before getting back into conference play," Feddersen said. "It was an eye opener. It highlighted that we still had a lot of improving to do."

The Raiders (11-1) have three players averaging at least 10 points. Junior center Mackenzie Bigbee, a Division I volleyball recruit, averages 16 points, 8.3 rebounds and is shooting 55 percent from the floor.

"She's become much more aggressive, much more assertive on offense," Feddersen said.

Sophomore Lindsay Schlabaugh averages 11.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and is shooting 51 percent.

"She put in a lot of time in the offseason," Feddersen said. "She's the perfect complement to play with Mackenzie. She can go down low when she needs to, but she can also face the basket and shoot from the 3-point line."

Freshman Paige Greiner averages 10.5 and is shooting 45 percent. Greiner also is shooting 87.1 percent from the foul line and leads the team in assists and steals.

Although Greiner still is learning how to play on the varsity level against bigger, more experienced players, she has moved into the point-guard position, and that's been a boost in a number of ways.

"I knew she'd give us a look that we really haven't had for quite a few years," Feddersen said. "Someone who can really push the tempo and has the speed and the court awareness to get a lot of people involved. We've never really been a team that's pushed the ball a whole lot, but to be able to do that while still being able to be effective in the half court has made us more versatile on offense."

Griener's emergence has moved Hannah Wilson to the off guard position.

"She's our best shooter, so by her moving off the ball it's allowed her to get a lot cleaner looks off the catch rather than having to do everything off the dribble," Feddersen said. "So Hannah's benefitted as well. And having two ball handlers is so nice."

Williamsburg leads the division in field-goal percentage, which is hardly a surprise when you look at the stats the top three scorers have compiled.

They've also shown the ability to win close games. They have two two-point, come-from-behind victories over conference opponents Benton and Vinton-Shellsburg on the road.

"We've battled some injuries and illness the whole season," Feddersen said. "There are about three games I can point to where the only reason we won is because we had the will to compete and the girls didn't want to lose. Against Benton we trailed by nine with six (minutes) to go. At Vinton we trailed by 10 with 5½ to go. The girls just refused to roll over, hung around and good things happened."

Against Waterloo Columbus, Bigbee was out, and Schlabaugh came up with a 32-point performance.

The Raiders have some notable games upcoming. They play Benton at home Tuesday and play powerful Mount Vernon on Jan. 22 in the Rivalry Saturday showcase at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.