New coach, new players, similar expectations for Arcadia girls team

The loss of six seniors — including two who scored more than 1,000 points in their careers — and the head coach from last year’s Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state-qualifying team haven’t done much to change expectations, at least in the regular season.

“The expectations we have as a team, is to repeat as conference champions,” Lucas Passehl, the team’s new head coach, said. “Even though we lost six seniors and a lot of talent and experience, we feel our roster can compete with any team in the Coulee Conference.”

Passehl was the varsity assistant to coach Tom Cowley last season, but he’s hardly new to coaching. Passehl started coaching when he was a junior at Abbotsford High School, where he graduated from in 1997.  He went on to coach at Onalaska and coached both the C and junior varsity Arcadia boys basketball teams under Paul Halverson in the late-2000s. He has also coached at the AAU level during summers before advancing to the varsity assistant position last year. 

“I am excited to have an opportunity to really grow the girls varsity program as the head coach,” Passehl said.

While the team did graduate a number of its top players, including Ellie Hoesley and Linzy Sendelbach, seniors who were first-team all-conference picks last year, the cupboard isn’t bare.

The team returns first-team all-conference selection Chloe Halverson, the third-leading scorer on last year’s team, who was known for her ability to defend on the perimeter, leading the team in steals and assists as the point guard.

“She will do a great job of leading this team,” Passehl said.

While many of the parts around Halverson will be different, they won’t be completely foreign.

Fellow senior Hailey Sonsalla received quite a bit of playing time for the Raiders last year, scoring 2.5 points per game.

The team will also be calling on two sophomores in Breah Golden and Autumn Passehl to play more minutes. Both played significant minutes for the team during the regular season and tournament run — including in the state semifinal game — a year ago. Golden was fifth on the team, averaging 4.7 points per game, despite missing some time with an injury. Passehl — the new coach’s daughter — scored one point per game, but saw her minutes — and production — increase as the season progressed. Passehl referred to both as “shooting specialists”

The tournament run could prove beneficial to the Raiders as they begin an unpredictable season.

“I believe the season will be like no other, as coaches and players will face a lot of adversity and challenges. One of our strengths consists of being mentally prepared to handle this roller coaster of a season,” Lucas Passehl said.