Norse look to build off success

After going from 15 losses two years ago to 15 wins last season, the Whitehall girls basketball team is looking to keep improv-ing.

Whitehall returns much of its roster, but will have to make up for quite a bit of pro-duction lost from graduating seniors. That includes first-team all-conference pick Oliv-ia Killian, who averaged about 15 points and 16 rebounds per game last year — both team-bests. The team also graduated third-leading scorer Alexis Correa and starting guard Ashlyn Clatt.

The Norse have quite a few players with varsity experience returning. Trinity Aasen and Haili Sluga are seniors who have been playing major varsity minutes since they were freshmen. Aasen was fourth on the team, averaging 7.3 points per game last year and third in rebounding with an aver-age of 5.6. Sluga averaged 3.9 points per game and led the team with an average of 2.7 assists. 

The team had quite a few sophomores playing last year. Guard Kyla Lambeck was second on the team in scoring, averaging nine points per game while Aryana Ausderau averaged 4.9 points and 5.7 re-bounds per contest. Kelsie Klomsten also played quite a bit for the Norse, averaging 2.9 points per game. 

Whitehall won the Dairyland Conference Large Division last year, but the makeup of the division has changed. Independ-ence/Gilmanton joins the large, with Blair-Taylor jumping to the small. DC newcomer Osseo-Fairchild will also be in the DC-Large. 

The season begins Thursday for the Norse as the team hosts Eleva-Strum. They’ll play at Blair-Taylor this coming Tuesday.