Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Everyone knows the stars, the leading scorers, the all-conference or all-state performers.

With as much basketball talent as there is in the Your Prep Sports area that makes for a lot of players to recognize.

With every season there is a new group of players looking to make a name for themselves.

As the girls basketball season gets underway here are some area players that are candidates for breakthrough seasons.

Alex Wiese

Regina, Junior

A third team Class 2A all-state pick last season as a sophomore Wiese doesn’t exactly fit the mold of a breakthrough candidate.

The 6-foot-1 post still makes the list because she is capable of more than the 15.7 points and 9.4 rebounds she averaged a year ago in her first action back from a torn ACL that ended her freshman season.

Wiese closed the season with back-to-back double-doubles in the 2A state tournament including a 22-point, 14-rebound performance in the semifinal loss to Western Christian and had double-doubles in six of her final seven games.

Karsyn Stratton

Clear Creek Amana, Sophomore

The 5-foot-8 Stratton was one of the top freshman in Class 4A last season when she averaged 16 points and a team-high six rebounds per game.

With three senior starters gone from last year’s team Stratton will be an even bigger part of the Clippers offense and is capable of handling that role.

Stratton excelled at getting to the basket last season but should improve on the 26 percent she shot from 3-point range this year.

Rose Nkumu

City High, Sophomore

With players like Iowa State recruit Ashley Joens and classmate Aubrey Joens on the roster it was easy to overlook Nkumu last season.

As the season went on looking past the City High point guard got more and more difficult.

This season looking over Nkumu will be close to impossible.

The 5-foot-8 Nkumu averaged 8.4 points, 2.7 assists and 2.7 steals last season and expects to build on those numbers this season.

Sasha Koenig

West Branch, Freshman

The younger sister of senior all-stater Tatum Koenig is expected to make an immediate impact in the West Branch backcourt alongside her sister.

A 5-foot-3 guard, Koenig had 21 points in her career debut last Tuesday and showed the same playmaking ability of her sister adding six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Emma Koch

West High, Junior

A steady performer for West High the past two seasons, Koch flashed her potential with 24 rebounds in two state tournament games last season.

The 5-foot-11 Koch should improve on the 7.3 rebounds and team-leading 6.7 rebounds she averaged last season.

Gabby Marty

Solon, Junior

The 5-foot-10 Marty led Solon in rebounding a year ago with 4.5 per game.

After scoring 4.2 points per game last season the junior post plans to be a much bigger part of the Spartans offensive plans this season.

Marty is one of only two returning players that averaged more than four points a game a year ago and had 14 points in the season opener.

Lauren Zacharias

West High, Junior

Already a two-year starter at point guard Zacharias isn’t going to put up huge scoring numbers on a West High team loaded with talented offensive playmakers.

That doesn’t mean the 5-foot-5 floor general isn’t a candidate to take her game to the next level this season.

Zacharias had her best season to date last year averaging 7.5 points and a team-high 3.2 assists per game.

This year expect Zacharias to play an even larger role especially with senior Rachael Saunders recovering from offseason knee surgery.