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LPGE expects to contend after moving to Prairie Conference

By Taylor Lunemann, Long Prairie Leader, 11/23/11, 3:59PM CST

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Langer, Zastrow provide Thunder with experienced inside game


Jenna Langer

When the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle Thunder girls’ basketball team started practice last Monday, it was a very familiar squad from the 2010-11 season. The girls only graduated one senior and bring back Jenna Langer and Sam Zastrow, their two top scorers from last season. 

The Thunder will return eight of their top nine players from last season. They will be led by captains Langer and Beth Blommel. They also return junior Zastrow who was the second leading scorer on last year’s squad.
 
“The majority of the group are juniors and most of them played last year so they have a good amount of experience,” head coach Steve Christians said.
 
In addition to bringing back many players with varsity experience, the Thunder will also get to test out the Prairie Conference after moving from the West Central Conference.
 
“Our expectations are higher this year after moving to the Prairie Conference,” Langer said. “We’re going to try to be the team to beat.”
 
The Thunder’s main strength will be their inside players Langer and Zastrow.
 
“We will probably get the majority of our points from inside 10 feet,” Christians said.
 
The Thunder have a few areas they will be working to improve before the season begins.
 
“Turnovers were our weakness last year,” Christians said. “We will need to work on our ball handling and breaking the press.”
 
One way the girls have practiced in the offseason was taking part in a summer league. The teams involved included LPGE, Melrose, Browerville, and Holdingford.
 
For six weeks, the teams would take on one of the other teams. It was not completely a game setting as coaches stopped play to work on things when they needed to.
 
“It was good to be able to stop play and work on things,” Christians said. “This way we can eliminate some bad habits instead of just playing games."
 
The team goals this year are to be in the mix and contend for the Prairie Conference title.
 
Their playoff goal includes hosting their first playoff game and winning it. This could prove to be a tough task with their subsection getting tougher this year with the addition of tough teams like Pierz, Sauk Centre, Albany, and Holdingford.
 
“We play many of those teams in the season,” Christians said. “Beating those teams will give a good indication of what seed we will get at the end of the season.”
 
The Thunder open the season at home with a game against Holdingford November 29 at 7:30 p.m.
 

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