The West Fork girls basketball team is working back from illness and injury as holiday break practices began on Monday. The Warhawks roster has also had to adapt to more varsity minutes per player than recent seasons, as they are down from 15 players in 2024-25 to nine players this season. The Warhawks entered the break at 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Top of Iowa Conference East. Head Coach Rodney Huber shares team adjustments in preparation for their return to games.
“We will tweak some things. We’re not going to be making a lot of changes, probably little things here and there. With a short roster and kind of an inexperienced group, I think it’s important to just keep on hammering those things that we want to hang our hat on,” says Huber. “Obviously, we want to press, we don’t have the depth for that right now. There’s some other things that we can do in the half court to be a little bit more aggressive and show some different things. We’ll probably talk about that. We will continue to fine tune some of the offensive things that we’re doing. The roster looks a little different than it has the last few years. We’ve had to make some adjustments and we’re still getting used to some of that. These practices will be huge for us as we go into this stretch run.”
Brylee Dickman sets the tone with 11 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Zada Huff adds 10.7 points per game at a team best 37.5 percent shooting from the field. Evie Hitzhusen delivers 9.8 points, six rebounds and a team leading 3.2 assists per game (third most in the TIC-East). Huber says the trio has settled into their roles as leaders.
“Zada, is putting together a really nice year. I think she had maybe five threes against Central Springs. She definitely can get hot if the team’s not taking her away. Then Evie has handled the point guard role and has really led the team well. We’re working on cutting down turnovers and she did a nice job against Central Springs in that regard,” says Huber. “Then Brylee, she’s going to be a scorer. Sometimes it’s just screening, rebounding and playing really good defense. She’s also playing a little bit of a point forward for us. She at times will bring the ball down the floor and even get things settled down. I really like how the three have settled in.”
West Fork will return to action against Iowa Falls-Alden in a neutral site game at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines on Saturday, January 3. It will air on 104.9 KLMJ.
