Mankato East has a new girls coach this season, but he is no stranger to the school or the profession. Last season’s boy’s coach Dave Makela is now the head man for the Cougar ladies squad. Coach Makela has been around the game for 28 seasons in head or assistant roles. He’ll be assisted by Alison Anderson to work on keeping Mankato East girls basketball at its high level.

The Cougars lost a couple of great players from last year’squad. Claire Ziegler, who is continuing to play ball at Mankato State with the Mavericks, while Taylor Karge took her talents to UW-River Falls. These two were major parts of the team success over past seasons.

The cupboard is not bare, but 80% of the offense has to be replaced this season. Seniors Brie Satre and Paige Lingbeck will provide some of that along with junior Allison Taylor and classmate MaKayla Hager. A couple of sophomore guards Torey Richards and Shayla Karge are young, but looked upon as being a strength to the squad going in.

The Big Nine conference added a few teams this year, but early indications are the normal residents Rochester John Marshall & Owatonna are the favorites.
East will also face both Marshall & Hutchinson in the regular season and will be using these game to gauge where they might matchup for the post season. Those two squads are the leading contenders in Section 2AAA to head to the state tourney this season.

Taylor at 6’3 is a huge piece that can be helpful to the squad and if the young guards can learn to handle the pressure defenses they’ll face during the season, there will be hope to surprise a team come playoffs. It’s a new system, new coach, but an experienced one hoping to build off an excellent summer of workouts and having it pay off at tournament time.

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