The Normal West Lady Wildcats are feeling optimistic heading into their season. 

The Wildcats are led by varsity coach Corey Ostling, the post high school counselor and assistant athletic director at Normal West, in his second stint as head coach.

“I took a step down after the COVID year, and that was kind of hard for me. So I went down to junior high, kind of got rejuvenated, and then wanted to come back and coach this round of girls,” Ostling noted. 

The Wildcats are going to be full of young talent this year, with the majority of their varsity roster consisting of freshman and sophomores. 

“We’ll definitely be younger, there’s no doubt about it,” Ostling states, “but a lot of our girls, even though they were freshman last year, some of them got a varsity experience last year. They’ve been there before, so I’m gonna lean heavily on our returners. And then I think experience is a good teacher, but they’re (the team) locked in at practice every single day so they’re listening right now. And I think we will definitely have growth throughout the season, as long as they keep buying in and working hard in practices.” 

This group of Wildcats has a great work ethic and is very energetic, which will be the key to beating teams this season. 

“I do think we are a hard working group. I think we will be extremely energetic. We will have each other’s backs and so the energy and effort, I think we will win more battles than that,” Ostling said. 

Versatility is going to be another big strength for the Wildcats this season, as Ostling has the ability to throw out lots of different lineups with this team. 

“I do think we have a lot of athletic girls this year, and I think that helps us a lot to have some more interchangeable pieces. So if someone goes down (injury) or someone gets in foul trouble, I think we can use our athleticism to mix and match different pieces and put out different lineups,” Ostling added. 

When it comes to building a winning coach for the team, Ostling stressed the importance of how hard the team works in practice, as well as the good habits they must build in practice everyday. 

“The culture is developed every single day in practice. I think it’s no different than the fall play which was fantastic this year.You don’t just show up the day of the fall play and say ‘let’s go’ it was all the work that they put in leading up to the fall play, and in basketball it’s no different,” Ostling mentions, “it’s the work you do in practice. And so are we doing every drill to the best of our ability? Are we taking every rep as hard as we can? Or are we taking it for granted?”

Ostling also mentioned how great the coaching staff is. 

“We’re lucky to have multiple coaches that have either been in the program or coming back to the program and all molding together. And it’s also nice to have Coach Price, who’s in our building, and Coach (DT) Thornton in our building, and also Coach Taylor,” Ostling said. 

Senior guard Dajeana Smith adds that the team’s expectation is “to have a winning season and win Intercity.”

The girls basketball team kicks off their season tonight, (November 18), as they are on the road to take on Yorkville Christian.