While Trinity will undoubtedly miss Makiyah Williams, a McDonald’s All-American nominee now playing at Marquette University, coach Kim Coleman relishes the prospect of revamping the team as the Blazers enter the 2021-22 season this week.
“We’re a young team. We don’t have a ton of varsity playing experience,” she said. “Cierra [Richardson] and Lauren [Miller] are the only ones with plenty of varsity minutes, and we’re leaning on them to lead the way this year.”
Juniors Maeve Lundt and Sophia Rodriguez are Trinity’s other returning players from last year’s team, which went 6-8.
A challenging schedule could lead to growing pains for a young and inexperienced team like the Blazers. But Coleman is fine with it because she believes her players will grow throughout the course of the year.
“We set our schedule up in a way to prepare us for the state tournament,” Coleman said. “Our conference [the GCAC Red] is one of the best, if not the best, ones in the state. Those non-conference games are going to provide us with the experience we need to be able to compete in the conference and state tournaments later in the season.”
Coleman believes the Blazers can be competitive without Williams.
“Opponents are wondering what will we do now that Makiyah isn’t here anymore,” she said. “We feel it’s the next person up, and we’re excited to showcase our young talent, put these kids on the map, and keep the success of Trinity basketball going.”
Trinity opens the season Nov. 20 at the Elmhurst Classic Thanksgiving Tournament versus Walther Christian.
