Shawnee’s Grace Freiberger, rights, shoots against Delphos Jefferson’s Lyv Lindeman during a game last year. Freiberger is back for the Indians after leading her team in scoring with 19.1 points per game. She also averaged 4.7 assists, 5 rebounds and 3.6 steals per outing.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP – Shawnee senior Grace Freiberger will be heading to the University of Toledo next school year to play volleyball.
Freiberger is coming off a stellar volleyball season that saw Shawnee notch its first-ever Western Buckeye League title with a perfect 9-0 league record. Freiberger was named the player of the year in the WBL, made the first team in District 8 and was picked the defensive player of the year in District 8.
However, Freiberger still has more she wants to accomplish at Shawnee.
This basketball season, the three-time first-team all-Western Buckeye League performer is focused on helping the girls basketball program get back to the top of the league.
“I think we can finish those games (this season), that we couldn’t finish last year. The sophomore class is a huge part of our team,” she said. “We’re starting to grow because most of them got some varsity time last year. I think we can be high up there (in the standings). I know I’m the only senior, but we’re trying, we’re all working together, and we’re communicating well.”
During Freiberger’s sophomore basketball season in 2021-22, Shawnee shared the WBL title with Ottawa-Glandorf. The Indians were 22-2 overall and 8-1 in the WBL.
Last season, Shawnee went 9-15 overall and 4-5 in league play (seventh place). Freiberger led Shawnee in scoring, averaging 19.1 points per game. She also averaged 4.7 assists, 5 rebounds and 3.6 steals per outing.
“It was tough at times, but I knew that all the girls on the floor were giving everything that they had and not giving up at any point of the game,” Freiberger said about last season. “That’s all you can do. That’s all you can ask for – everyone giving it their all on the court. Even though we were a young team, we never stopped fighting.’
In Freiberger’s freshman campaign, the Indians were 15-8 in all games played and 4-4 in the WBL (fourth place).
Along with Freiberger (5-foot-7), other returning letterwinners for Shawnee include Morgan Betts (5-5, sophomore), Sydney Burris (5-7, junior), Alexis Whetstone (5-9, sophomore), Brynn Patterson (5-7, sophomore) and Heaven Watkins (5-6, sophomore).
Shawnee girls basketball coach Rachel Rumbaugh will rely heavily on her sophomore class this season.
“Last year, we were playing a bunch of freshmen,” Rumbaugh said. “This year, you can tell they have some experience now. So, they’ve gotten a lot better just between their freshman and sophomore year.
“Morgan Betts (3.3 points per game) is coming back. … She’s one of our guards. One of our forwards, Brynn Patterson (3 points, 4 rebounds per game), is coming back. We have one girl (Anna Menke, 5-8, So.) who hasn’t played since seventh grade. She (Menke) is coming out and is really helping us. Then Kamryn Morris (5-7, Jr.) is coming back. … She took last year off. I think those two (Menke and Morris), in addition to the group that we have, are really going to help us.”
Rumbaugh is hoping to get more players involved at the offensive end this season, so Freiberger will not have to carry such a huge load.
“I would like to see other girls be more of an offensive threat with her (Freiberger). This year, I don’t want her to feel like she has to do as much as she did last year,” Rumbaugh said. “In our scrimmages and things, we’ve had a lot of girls becoming more of an offensive threat, which is really helping us.”
With the lack of size on this year’s roster, Rumbaugh wants to push the tempo as much as possible.
“We lost Ania Pearson (6-1, center) to graduation. Last year, she had about 300 of our 800 (team) rebounds (10.3 points, 12.4 rebounds per game in 2022-23). So, we have a lot to make up in that aspect,” Rumbaugh said. “We’re going to look different. Traditionally, I’ve always had one or two bigs (post players), but now we don’t have that. We are now very much guard-oriented. So, we’re going to change up our offense a little bit, because we depended on our bigs in a lot of those situations.
‘We’re going to run-and-gun and push the ball up the floor. I feel like with our guards, we can apply more full-court pressure than what we have in the past. We’re going to look a little bit different in that aspect, but we still have to rebound the basketball.”
Pearson is a freshman at Edison State Community College, where she is a forward on the basketball team.
Rumbaugh is confident that her team can be competitive in the WBL.
“In making team goals – one of the goals is to be in the top three in the WBL. So, that’s what we want to shoot for,” Rumbaugh said.
