Young Guns Ready For a Breakout Season Ahead

This Winter is a major one for several prospects across the state. A lot of teams out there will lose their production from year's past in a bunch of ways so now it's time that the young guns step up for a breakout season moving ahead. In this piece we discuss five individuals that might be younger in age level but they have impactful play-styles and that should carry them each to production this Winter with their squads.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    This Winter we get to see what [player_tooltip player_id='880913' first='Kelli' last='Kalb'] can really do from the SC/CG position. Kalb put on a show last year with her minutes on the Varsity floor for the Dragons. This season she will be looked upon to do the exact same but with a few more minutes on the floor. I don't see Kalb coming off of the court very much over the next three years. She should be a main focal point in their offense, while being a sound defender at the same time. I'm hoping that Kalb shows her worth early on over the next few months. If she plays her game, she should be nothing short of impressive as a Division-1 prospect.     [player_tooltip player_id='1325830' first='Maci' last='Munneke'] didn't see the most playing time as a Freshman last Winter at Rock Valley but her minutes should pick up this season and that could lead to some steady production out of the SG. Munneke only went 5/10 last season from the field, only shooting three pointers in her attempts. She will return with some seasoned 2026's around her so she won't be their main SG but she will be one that can step in for some spot minutes here and there. There is still a lot of questions to be answered as to who [player_tooltip player_id='1325830' first='Maci' last='Munneke'] really is as a hooper but we still have time to figure that out.     The intriguing thing about [player_tooltip player_id='1325841' first='Libby' last='Winters'] as a basketball prospect is that she rebounds as well on offense, as she does on defense. Winters was PCM's main producer as a rebounder last Winter and that should be the case once again over the next six months. Winters recorded just over 200 rebounds on the 2024-2025 season as a whole. 100 being offensive and 107 being defensively. When you have this weapon on both sides of the floor, you can make some risky plays in hopes that Winters will clean up the mess. She navigates between the blocks extremely well and that's why she produced so much in the past. All in all, Winters is a productive prospect that we should be talking about more and more this Winter as we get into things.     I am expecting Hinton High School to repeat this Winter as 2A State Champions. When you see that they will return everyone, while bringing in some really talented 2029's and some players off injury, you start to understand that no one should stand a chance against this team as a whole out of this Class. They have players like [player_tooltip player_id='1190186' first='Raelyn' last='Kempema'] will return at over 6'1 in the Post with some experience under her belt. That's only going to make her more deadly over time. This group will have their star PG return to lead the way for one more go around in [player_tooltip player_id='524262' first='Sydney' last='Doeschot'] but someone is going to have to take charge following this Winter and that player could be Kempema.     Another group that is going to have some questions moving into this Winter is Mount Vernon. MV won State last Winter but they lose their dominance in the middle with their Post going to college and they lose their HC due to an in-house coaching change so we will see they adapt to other of these situations. Something that won't change is the production from PG - [player_tooltip player_id='957840' first='Savanna' last='Wright']. Wright is a future D1 commit, who can Will a team to success whenever she feels like it. She is a very talented and efficient player, that doesn't force bad shots and that doesn't make stupid mistakes when the ball is in her possession. Instead, she leads with a crafty dribble, elite vision, and a willingness to adapt in any given moment. Wright is only going to get better with experience as she continues to compete and that starts this Winter with the Mustangs.

This Winter is a major one for several prospects across the state. A lot of teams out there will lose their production from year's past in a bunch of ways so now it's time that the young guns step up for a breakout season moving ahead. In this piece we discuss five individuals that might be younger in age level but they have impactful play-styles and that should carry them each to production this Winter with their squads.