Wildcat girls basketball has high expectations coming into the ‘25-’26 season…but you won’t see them setting any long term goals.

Instead, a big focus for this year’s squad is to take one day at a time.

Still, the girls and veteran Coach Corey Ostling are excited for what is in store for this season.

Finishing last year with a 10-19 record (6-4 in conference), the team is returning the majority of the previous year’s roster.

“This year, we have way more confidence, and we are ready to win. We want to win,” junior power forward Avery Dodge stated.

The mindset switch from last season is a huge contributor to the confidence increase this season.

“I think we’ve really grown in our mindset. Last year it was more of I have to play basketball and not I get to play basketball mentality because last season was a hard year for us,” senior power forward Savannah Steers added.

With the majority of the roster returning, the Wildcats are very familiar with varsity-level playing style.

Because there are so many returners with varsity-level experience, the girls consider themselves to be very close-knit and tough.

Much adversity has been experienced in the past three seasons with coaching changes and the consequential adjustments to styles and structures that come with that.

“A lot of us had already played under different styles of coaching/different styles of play. And just the mental struggles of going from little to a bunch of structure [from the ‘23-’24 season to the ‘24-’25 season]. But now that we have overcome that. We’re more structured, more together, and we’re all on the same page,” Steers stated.

One major challenge that this team will face is their lack of size.

However, to the girls, that’s a challenge worth fighting for and also means their playing style will need to be a little different.

Luckily, this group of Wildcats can be described as fast, gritty, hard-working, and scrappy out on the court.

“The theme [for this year] is ‘relentless.’ And I think that’s how a lot of teams would describe us. We’re scrappy; we are athletic; we are deep; we’re not the biggest team, so I think [with] having some size disadvantages, especially at the guard spots, we have to be scrappy.

“We have to find ways to kind of generate offense. So, I think we’ll be relenting on both sides of the floor.” Varsity Head Girls Basketball Coach Corey Ostling said.

As noted above, the Wildcats have a lot of experience under their belts. Carrying forward what they have learned from their combined varsity experience, this team has evolved into a more mature and focused group.

Last year, the team struggled with getting into foul trouble, but this year, they hope their experience can help them avoid some of those issues.

“When you are being tenacious and high intensity, sometimes you’re prone to fouling. So, it’s a big focus for us. Then offensively, we just have to quit turning the ball over. Last year, having a younger team was a huge problem for us. This year, we still have a younger team, but pretty much everyone has varsity experience now, and so we got to take care of the ball better,” Ostling stated.

The season will be the opposite of easy, playing numerous tough opponents.

Still, the Lady Wildcats look forward to raising the bar this season, “turning it around” and not “staying flat.”

“We are playing a lot of good teams. Coach O made our schedule really tough this year, which is exciting and a good challenge. We definitely have some challenges that can be pressure, but a lot of the time it is also a fun type of challenge and pressure,” Dodge said.

In addition to setting up a challenging schedule, Coach Ostling also provided the girls opportunities to see leadership in action.

In fact, on October 21, the captains traveled to the Illinois Principals Association annual conference in Peoria where they got the opportunity to help introduce and listen to a keynote speaker, the head coach of the University of Illinois Girls Basketball team, Shauna Green.

Green shared a unique message, and a word the team has taken on as a core focus from this conference is E.L.I.T.E.

“We use this throughout the practice. Because it just reminds us that we can’t just settle for good when great is possible,” Point Guard Kylie Wilson said.

With that mindset, the team has no specific focus this season. Instead, they they focus on one day at a time.

“Your job is to move that needle up just every single day, a little bit, little bit, little bit… I think we could compete at a pretty high level, but more focused on being really good today and not getting lost in what is down the road,” Ostling stated.

Tonight, the girls open up their season by traveling to Pleasant Plains High School for a 7p.m. tipoff.

They will take on Yorkville Christian on Wednesday for their hope opener. Game time is also at 7 p.m.