Shrine Eager to Begin Girls' Basketball Season with Fresh Faces

After Royal Oak Shrine’s girls basketball team was knocked out of the 2010-11 district playoffs, Coach Bill LeGault knew he’d have some rebuilding to do.

He didn’t have to look any further than the box score. In that 63-60 loss to Madison Heights Bishop Foley, all 60 Shrine points were scored by seniors who have since graduated.

That’s why this season’s team will be much younger, with just one senior and three freshmen on the 11-girl roster.

“It will be interesting,” LeGault said. “We don’t have any one player who started a game for us before, I think. No one on our team has averaged more than one point a game.”

senior Alicia Horton, juniors Rosie Konczal and Maddie Bernhard and sophomore Rebecca Zardus are the lone holdovers from last year’s squad. Juniors Erin Kapala and Morgan Button got junior varsity experience last season, while the rest of the squad consists of junior transfer Emily Deal and freshmen Reilly Carr, Julia Liggett and Sisi Wangler.

Despite all the fresh faces, LeGault said the squad will be fairly balanced and pretty athletic.

“We’re quick, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “They’re coming along, they have a pretty good attitude and they’re not going to give anything up. We should get good leadership from our captains, Erin and Rosie. The two of them, along with Sisi, should be our leading scorers.”

The Knights play in a tough division of the Catholic League, LeGault said. He said two-time defending Class D state champion Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes or Marine City Cardinal Mooney have what it takes to win a state title, while Allen Park Cabrini and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook return most of the girls from their squads of a season ago.

Shrine opens its season Tuesday night at home against Auburn Hills Oakland Christian. The junior varsity contest begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7.