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During the previous six seasons, Kearney High girls basketball had produced few victories — few enough that the Bulldogs experienced only one lone winning season during that time.

That was until the girls snapped that streak with a productive 15-13 campaign last winter that included the team’s first district championship appearance in five years. The Bulldogs now look forward to building on that success, and they’ve already started the process during their offseason workouts this summer.

"All the little steps help to make it a good winning season, and this is one of those steps," Kearney junior Jenni Hartzler said. "We’re really hoping to keep the winning going, but right now we’re also trying to have fun."

Between Kearney’s summer camp, summer league and a team camp at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, the girls stayed more than busy throughout the month of June.

"All of this is very important because we want to improve for season ball and have many more winning seasons," Kearney junior Michaela Brinkley said. "We’re trying to make our way up to the top."

This extra work provides the coaching staff with the opportunity to help guide the program in that direction. Longtime coach Herb Webster remembers the time when Missouri State High School Activities Association rules restricted high school coaches from working with their teams during the summer.

"The biggest thing this helps the coaches with is assessing the talent," Webster said. "It used to be hard when you could only work with the kids for a few months out of the year. Now we have the chance to get more work in.

"We took 28 kids to our team camp. We constantly sub in and out during our summer league games. It’s just a chance for all the kids to play and stay sharp."

It certainly does that. Not to mention, it also allows the girls to begin to learn to play together in a competitive setting.

"We get more touches on the ball," Hartzler said. "The high school season won’t roll around until November, but we can get more things accomplished now, rather than using that time in practice. Plus, this gives us a chance to start working on our chemistry. Every little bit helps."

Sports writer Chris Geinosky can be reached at 389-6654 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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