Girls basketball: Turn-around gives Chiefs home game

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By DAVID BOSSICK david.bossick@lee.net
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1:25 AM CST

CORNELL — Maybe it took just a familiar face on the bench.

Cornell’s girls basketball team, like other teams around Wisconsin, opens the WIAAtournament tonight.

The Chiefs are one of two teams in Chippewa County to host a first round game. Chippewa Falls is the other school. It’s a big turnaround, too, as Cornell went 4-16 last season to 12-8 this year.

“The biggest thing might be having a coach come back from the year before,” coach Jason Onsager said. “Over the past three or four years, there’s been three or four coaches.

“It’s tough when they don’t think that you’re coming back or don’t buy into your system.”

That might be the biggest difference between last season’s woes and this season’s whoas.

The Chiefs lost a couple of players from last year’s team and they returned a good group of young players for this year.

Onsager was quick to point out that the players didn’t necessarily acclimate to the systems he was coaching even this year.

“It took a little while. We talked a lot about team and teamwork,” he said. “We’re playing as a team. Courtney (Jensen) scores a lot, but we need all five girls on the floor doing their jobs.

“That’s been big.”

Last season, the Chiefs started the season in a big hole, losing the first nine games of the season. In contrast, Cornell lost on opening night to tonight’s foe, Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, but turned it around to flirt with a .500 record for the early part of the season.

Cornell wrapped up the regular season winning four of its last five games with the only loss against Stanley-Boyd.

Jensen has garnered a lot of headlines this winter for her presence inside. The senior is the school’s record holder for points in a career. She’s also had great games rebounding and blocking shots.

Onsager said having other players do the little things well that may not get their names in the newspaper are just as important.

One such player is freshman Amanda Smith, who’s filled in for Erin Bohaty.

“She’s not a true point guard, but she’s come out and done well at the point guard spot,” Onsager said. “She’s usually guarding the other team’s best player.”

The winning for the Chiefs has helped out with the attitude, also. Cornell’s practices have changed for the better.

“We’re looser. Last year, it got to be so much of a grind. Practices was not fun. Now, we’re a little too loose,”he said. “It helps to get wins right off the bat. Winning the close games helps, too.”

The team has enjoyed more support this season, too. Cornell is hosting a girls playoff game for the first time in nearly a dozen years and the team hasn’t finished as a runner-up in its league in a generation.

“Basically, it was just the parents (last year). Now, we have a lot of alumni out and we see a lot of grandparents,”he said. “It makes the girls feel better about being out there. They’re trying to get more kids out for the game.”

The Chiefs start their playoff quest at 7 p.m. tonight against Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran. The two teams met twice this season with the Chiefs losing an eight-point game in the season opener. Cornell won the most recent game last Thursday, 37-34.

“We played really early and we started playing at a quarter to six,” Onsager said of last week’s Cornell win in Eau Claire. “The game was kind of dull. It was the weirdest game.”

He said his team will need to deal with a taller Lancers team as several players have a height of 5 feet, 11 inches. Immanuel Lutheran also plays tough man-to-man defense, something the Chiefs are prepared for.

“Flambeau plays the best man defense I’ve seen coaching at any level. Birchwood plays good man-to-man, too,” he said. “That defense poses a problem. It all depends on how we handle the pressure.”

He said that could very well be Cari Arneson with key 3-pointers early in the game or Smith shooting the ball.

All of that is just part of a big turnaround for the Chiefs this season.

Reach David Bossick at david.bossick@lee.net.