Kaukauna girls basketball is a team in transition, but that's OK with coach Joe Russom and his young players

KAUKAUNA – Few teams have faced as much adversity as the Kaukauna girls basketball team in the past 11 months.

The Ghosts started last season with a 10-0 record but lost senior standout Alana Zarneke to a season-ending knee injury on Dec. 29. They went 9-8 the rest of the season and still made it to the sectional semifinals, but her absence left a gaping hole in the lineup.

There were other injuries and illnesses for the Ghosts during that time.

“It was a heck of a January and February for us,” Ghosts coach Joe Russom said. “We spent more time in the training room some days than on the floor.”

The hits didn’t stop there.

In July, Alexa Kinas tore her ACL and underwent surgery. The senior, who averaged 19.2 points per game last season and was unanimous all-Fox Valley Association, won’t play for the Ghosts this season as she recovers.

Then Taryn Christopher, who was fifth on the Ghosts in scoring last season with 6.1 points per game, opted to not play basketball this season as she concentrates on her softball career. She will play in college at Minnesota-Duluth.

All of which leaves the Ghosts a team in transition, but Russom doesn’t sound the least bit concerned.

“I know that people are going to underestimate us and that’s fine. I think that’s just who we are,” he said. “When you lose 500 shots between two kids, between Alexa and Alana specifically, there’s going to be a lot of doubters. We have some good young kids that are stepping in and some older kids that are accepting bigger roles and have really improved on their game, so although you can’t replace a kid as talented as Alexa, you can do it by committee to a certain degree.

“We’re just going to be a little bit different. It’s going to be a little bit different style of basketball, but still uptempo. I really like the way the kids are working towards a common goal. I think they kind of rallied around it.”

Russom, who coached Appleton North to back-to-back Division 1 state titles in 2017 and 2018, is in his fourth season as head coach of the Ghosts. They went 17-8 overall in his first season, then 19-8 each of the last two seasons while finishing fourth, fourth and third in the highly competitive FVA.

The Ghosts opened this season with a 50-47 victory over Bay Port last Tuesday. Senior Josie Djupstrom and junior Addison Baumgart each scored 13 points. Freshman Ava Reader scored nine points and freshman Keira Plate added eight.

Djupstrom is one of only four seniors, including Kinas, on the roster. Baumgart was second-team all-FVA last season when she was second on the team in scoring (13.3 ppg). Junior Savanna Robinson returns after finishing fourth in scoring (8.7 ppg) last season.

Russom said the players have stepped up in Kinas’ absence and are not only asking the correct questions, but they are also giving the correct answers.

“I really like a lot of feedback. What do you like? What do you dislike? What drill do you think that we need?” he said. “Sometimes we didn’t always get the answer that we needed. I think they would say things just to appease us. This year we’re getting everything that we want.

“It seems like we’re on a completely different trajectory and they’ve bought into that idea of growth versus, ‘Hey, we’re going to worry about where we are in the FVA, the state, what they’re doing.’ We’re only focused on us. These guys have really collectively bought in on that and that’s nice. That makes coaching a lot more fun.”

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Kinas, who will play Division I basketball in college at Loyola University Chicago, wishes she could be playing but said she will be there for her teammates on and off the court just as much as if she was in uniform.

“I think they’ll figure it out,” she said. “We did last year once we lost Lana. We figured it out. They’ll figure it out. I think everyone’s just going to step up a little bit and it will all work out for them.”

Baumgart, who is in her third season on varsity, said this year’s team is working together and with a common goal in mind.

“Our culture is really good,” Baumgart said. “When I came as a freshman, some of the upperclassmen weren’t as nice and now our coach is really good and we’re all really close. We trust each other. We’re friends on and off the court, so that’s probably the biggest change I’ve seen.”

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Kaukauna high school girls basketball team out to prove doubters wrong