The North Sound Christian School’s girls basketball team only has one senior on the roster but that doesn’t mean the Lions lack experience.
Four sophomores who saw significant playing time as freshman are back and hoping to help lead North Sound Christian back to the state playoffs.
“I would say my team is stronger than last year,” said Lions head coach Arie Mahler, who noted that the only player the team lost was captain Nicole Brekkaa.
“She was really the glue that kept the team together,” he said.
Stepping into the captains’ roles are senior forward Elyse Bunger and junior guard Hannah Reymore. Bunger is a three-year starter and earned first-team, all-league honors last season.
Bunger at 5-foot-11 and sophomore Catherine Oakland, a 5-11 forward, give North Sound Christian one of the taller front lines in the league. The only other team that can match up with the Lions height-wise is Highland Christian.
“When we put (Bunger and Oakland) in we’ve got strength in the low post game,” Mahler said.
The biggest difference this season is the development of North Sound Christian’s outside game, specifically Castor’s 3-point shooter. Castor went 3-for-5 in the Lions’ 46-39 league opening loss to Lumni on Dec. 14 and she was 2-for-3 in a 36-35 loss to non-conference opponent Mount Vernon Christian three days earlier. Castor started every game as a freshman and earned second-team, all-league recognition.
“We have the outside 3-point shooting to complement our two posts,” Mahler said. “(Castor) is starting to shoot at a fairly high percentage.”
Reymore is handling most of the point guard duties with sophomore Lynne Washio her primary replacement.
North Sound Christian has won only one of its first four non-league games but that wasn’t necessarily a surprise to Mahler, who said he purposely scheduled a tougher non-league schedule.
“It’s about establishing some confidence and just some consistency,” he said. “Once we get rolling into league, I think we’ll be just fine.”
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