10 hours Ago By Joe Brown
GROVE CITY — The motto the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City girls basketball team has adopted this season is “Handle hard better.” The Falcons put together a 12-13 overall record in 2023-24. That includes a 5-9 record in the Central Minnesota Conference.
In her second season as head coach, Jacklyn Frericks hopes to see her squad handle the good and bad times. “Basketball can be great enjoyment but it can also bring hardships,” Frericks said. “How we handle those hardships will determine our outcomes.
” For Frericks, that’ll begin on the defensive end. “Historically, our defense is our strong quality,” Frericks said. “Our goal is to hold teams to less than 45 points.
This gives our offense the opportunity to stay in the game and be competitive the whole night.” The Falcons will try to do that with four returning starters. Two of those starters are seniors Mackenzie Powers and Brooke Schultz.
Powers is a 5-foot-6 guard. She was the team’s defensive player of the year and an Academic All-CMC pick. Schultz is a 5-9 guard/forward and was Academic All-CMC.
A pair of juniors are also back as starters. Ruby Klinger, a 5-11 center was a first team All-CMC pick and was academic all-conference. She was picked as the team’s sharp shooter of the year after hitting 54.
8% of her shots last season. Taylor Frericks, a 5-5 guard, is also back after earning the team’s sixth man award. Frericks was also an academic all-conference pick.
Providing help for the returning quartet are senior guard Haven Weseman, junior guard Brooke Brekke, junior center Quinn Eisenbacher, junior forward/center Ivy McClain and sophomore forward Brooke Johnson. “We’ll be relying on our bigs inside to take care of business in the paint, both offensively and defensively, while our guards knock down shots around the perimeter and create some turnovers and fastbreak layups in transition,” Jacklyn Frericks said. ACGC’s Central Minnesota Conference opener is Dec.
10 at Maple Lake..
