Memorial Examiner - Sports
Resurgent Second Baptist squad wins 10 of first 11
By MIKE TENNEY
SP_ME_2ndBaptist1203_GBB
In just two short years, Eric Boettcher has turned around the Second Baptist girls basketball program.
After not making the TAPPS playoffs for nearly a decade, the Golden Eagles made it last year in his first year on the job and finished with 18 wins.
This year, they won 10 of their first 11 games and Boettcher, who coached the Marble Falls girls to the 4A state finals just three years ago, isn’t shy about his goals for the team.
“Our goal is to get to a state championship game just like we did at Marble Falls,” he said. “And I think it can be done. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but I think you’ve got to set your goals as high as possible and we’re not going to hold back on the goals we have for this program.”
The Golden Eagles have been scorching the cords in the first month of the season, averaging over 60 points a game. They’re getting points from turnovers generated by their defense and they’re also stepping out and hitting some jumpers.
Senior point guard Kendall Shanklin has been leading the team, averaging 14 points a game while junior guard Jennifer Doughtie and sophomore move-in Maddie Peveto have been averaging around a dozen. In addition, junior power forward Leslie Slaughter is coming in at just under 10 points an outing, putting nearly all their starters in double figures average-wise.
“We’ve got four girls who can score and have been very consistent with their scoring, so we’re very happy with that,” said Boettcher.
Junior 5-foot-11 post Shannon Dodds is the fifth starter and she leads the team in rebounds at just under nine a game.
“That starting group has played real well together,” said Boettcher. “Four of them can really score and they all play defense and Shannon does a good job with the rebounds, so they’ve played real well together.”
The Golden Eagles also have good size coming off the bench with 5-10 juniors Braeden Brock and Natalie Johnson, allowing Boettcher to always keep at least one or two big girls on the floor if he chooses.
Guard Jessica Klingenberg is also one of the first subs into the game and sophomore guard Emmy Plezia and freshman point guard Taylor Barrett have also been playing quite a bit.
According to Boettcher, the Golden Eagles will attack teams three different ways: by going fast, faster, and as fast as possible.
“I definitely believe in transition basketball,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 28 years now and I’ve never walked the ball up the floor. I definitely like to play an up-tempo style. So we want to use our defense to create our offense and we’re looking to press and run and we want to push the ball up the floor as often as we can.”
He said the style is definitely working, evidenced by the amount of points they have given up in games. They held Duschene to 14 in a win. They also held Episcopal and St. John’s to 29 points each and St. John’s beat them three times last winter.
“Our defense has been very good, but I still think we’re a long way from playing our best defense,” he said. “It is something we’ll keep working on because we want to get into the (TAPPS) playoff and to do that and be competitive there; we have to be a good defensive team.”
The team plays in the Burnet tournament Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and Boettcher says they are about to have their biggest challenge yet. They open at Burnet High School in Central Texas at 5 p.m. Thursday against 5A Austin High School
“We’re going to see where we are because we’re playing against a bunch of 4A and 5A teams this week,” he said. “A lot of these schools have very good tradition and they’re going to be a real challenge for us, but I’m looking forward to seeing how my girls handle the type of size and speed I think we’ll see.”
He also will be seeing some old friends because Burnet is only 12 miles from Marble Falls, so he is very familiar with the competition.
“It’s no accident we’re playing in this tournament,” he said. “I know the people that run this tournament very well and I know we’re going to see some very good basketball teams, which is why we entered it.”
In just two short years, Eric Boettcher has turned around the Second Baptist girls basketball program.
After not making the TAPPS playoffs for nearly a decade, the Golden Eagles made it last year in his first year on the job and finished with 18 wins.
This year, they won 10 of their first 11 games and Boettcher, who coached the Marble Falls girls to the 4A state finals just three years ago, isn’t shy about his goals for the team.
“Our goal is to get to a state championship game just like we did at Marble Falls,” he said. “And I think it can be done. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but I think you’ve got to set your goals as high as possible and we’re not going to hold back on the goals we have for this program.”
The Golden Eagles have been scorching the cords in the first month of the season, averaging over 60 points a game. They’re getting points from turnovers generated by their defense and they’re also stepping out and hitting some jumpers.
Senior point guard Kendall Shanklin has been leading the team, averaging 14 points a game while junior guard Jennifer Doughtie and sophomore move-in Maddie Peveto have been averaging around a dozen. In addition, junior power forward Leslie Slaughter is coming in at just under 10 points an outing, putting nearly all their starters in double figures average-wise.
“We’ve got four girls who can score and have been very consistent with their scoring, so we’re very happy with that,” said Boettcher.
Junior 5-foot-11 post Shannon Dodds is the fifth starter and she leads the team in rebounds at just under nine a game.
“That starting group has played real well together,” said Boettcher. “Four of them can really score and they all play defense and Shannon does a good job with the rebounds, so they’ve played real well together.”
The Golden Eagles also have good size coming off the bench with 5-10 juniors Braeden Brock and Natalie Johnson, allowing Boettcher to always keep at least one or two big girls on the floor if he chooses.
Guard Jessica Klingenberg is also one of the first subs into the game and sophomore guard Emmy Plezia and freshman point guard Taylor Barrett have also been playing quite a bit.
According to Boettcher, the Golden Eagles will attack teams three different ways: by going fast, faster, and as fast as possible.
“I definitely believe in transition basketball,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 28 years now and I’ve never walked the ball up the floor. I definitely like to play an up-tempo style. So we want to use our defense to create our offense and we’re looking to press and run and we want to push the ball up the floor as often as we can.”
He said the style is definitely working, evidenced by the amount of points they have given up in games. They held Duschene to 14 in a win. They also held Episcopal and St. John’s to 29 points each and St. John’s beat them three times last winter.
“Our defense has been very good, but I still think we’re a long way from playing our best defense,” he said. “It is something we’ll keep working on because we want to get into the (TAPPS) playoff and to do that and be competitive there; we have to be a good defensive team.”
The team plays in the Burnet tournament Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and Boettcher says they are about to have their biggest challenge yet. They open at Burnet High School in Central Texas at 5 p.m. Thursday against 5A Austin High School
“We’re going to see where we are because we’re playing against a bunch of 4A and 5A teams this week,” he said. “A lot of these schools have very good tradition and they’re going to be a real challenge for us, but I’m looking forward to seeing how my girls handle the type of size and speed I think we’ll see.”
He also will be seeing some old friends because Burnet is only 12 miles from Marble Falls, so he is very familiar with the competition.
“It’s no accident we’re playing in this tournament,” he said. “I know the people that run this tournament very well and I know we’re going to see some very good basketball teams, which is why we entered it.”
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