Darcy Kepner the latest in the Princeton girls hoops coaching tree

The Princeton High School girls basketball coaching tree continue to grow this year.

Jeff Ohlson made the move from Bureau Valley to serve as head girls coach at PHS in 2015-16. After one year, he turned the reigns over to his former Storm player and assistant coach, Tiffany Gonigam, who jumped from Bureau Valley to Princeton.

Expecting the birth of her first child, Gonigam resigned this spring after five seasons, and now her protege, Darcy Kepner, has taken over the Tigresses program.

Kepner played for both Gonigam and assistant Abbi Bosnich at Bureau Valley and coached briefly under them at PHS. She knows they are there for support when she needs them.

“To say I am grateful for these two is a complete understatement,” said Kepner, whose coaching style highly patterns Gonigam’s. “They have been my biggest cheerleaders in taking over this program. They are always there to support me and the girls in anything we need from taking stats, talking over strategy, scouting, etc.

“The transition has been so easy because of the type of program they have created before me. I’m excited to continue to learn from them and build off the foundation they left here.”

The new Tigresses coach inherits a team ready for success. She has a core of four seniors to lead the way and an incoming junior class coming off back-to-back undefeated seasons in conference play at the sophomore level.

“The transition has gone better than I could have hoped,” Kepner said. “I am so grateful for the group of girls I have and their ability to be coachable and adapt to a new coaching staff. They have really built off our key principles of bringing energy, effort, hard work and a positive attitude to practice each day. Their energy and work ethic is fun to be around.

“Overall, they are a competitive group who puts in the work. We are excited to see where that takes us as a group.”

The Tigresses had a scare on the third day of practice when senior Mckenzie Hecht rolled an ankle. Initially feared to be a break, it proved to be an ankle sprain, and Hecht is hopeful to bounce back quickly for the start of the season.

“She will fill a huge leadership role for us on and off the court,” Kepner said. “She is our returning leader in points (9.2), rebounds (8), assists (1.3) and steals (3.2) from a year ago. I am so excited to have her back to lead our team this year.”

Hecht is joined by classmates Maggie Davis (G), who Kepner said “will provide us with a great defensive presence on the floor,” Morgan Coleman (P), Anastasia Mallery-Sondgeroth (G) and Gracie Reynolds (G).

“They will bring us great leadership, understanding of the game and energy,” Kepner said.

The PHS coach is also high on the highly successful junior class which moves up to the varsity ranks, some of whom have had a taste of varsity play.

Guards Mariah Hobson, Veronica Tirao, Olivia Gartin, Cayla Colby and posts Erin May (6-0), Isa Ibarra (5-6) and Emma Kruse-Carter 5-8) make up this core group who Kepner looks to “bring key contributions to our team.”

Hobson and Gartin will be counted on to handle the ball this year, with May and Ibarra continuing to provide some scoring punch.

The PHS squad also gained foreign exchange students Nellie Helmer and Nike Doose, of Germany, who Kepner said have not played basketball before.

The Tigresses will tip off their season in their own Holiday Tournament from Nov. 15-20.