Waukon girls basketball team returns four letterwinners for 2025-2026 campaign
2025-2026 Waukon girls basketball team ... Left to right - Front row: Nora Davis, Elle Wilkins, Willa Troendle, Peyton Crary, Elsie Sweeney, Laila Weighner, Jana Wilkins, Tegan Ash, Lauren Plein, McKenzie Leiran; Back row: Blythe Bucknell, Kaylin Regan, Bryiah Stewart, Haylee Jeglum, Jamiah Larson, Sophia Palmer, Hayley McNamara, Renae Snitker. Not pictured: Marissa Schullo and Micah Benda.
2025-2026 Waukon girls basketball returning letterwinners ... Left to right: Bryiah Stewart, Blythe Bucknell, Elle Wilkins, Willa Troendle.
Despite graduating more than half of its starting line-up from last season’s squad that finished 15-8 overall, the 2025-2026 Waukon girls basketball team will still return plenty of varsity letterwinning experience for this winter’s campaign. That returning experience will include nearly enough girls to formulate a starting line-up, as four young ladies come back as veteran players this season to lead a squad of 20 overall members of the high school program.
Those four include a pair each of seniors and juniors, and they cover every aspect on the floor with a pair of post players, a forward and a guard. The senior pair of guard Elle Wilkins and post player Willa Troendle will be further complemented by the junior tandem of post player Blythe Bucknell and forward Bryiah Stewart.
“We will look for them to take over more of a leadership role this year,” Waukon girls basketball coach John O’Neill said. “Elle will do most of the ball handling for us, Bryiah will be a wing, and Willa and Blythe will spend most of their time at the post.”
Those two senior veterans account for the only two most upperclassmen on this year’s squad, with the junior and sophomore classes having nearly equal numbers of five and four players, respectively. This season’s freshman class represents the largest number of players in this year’s program with nine first-year high school competitors.
The Lady Indians already got their 2025-2026 campaign underway with a Friday, November 21 home game against East Buchanan, details of which can also be found elsewhere on this week’s Sports pages. They were scheduled to play back-to-back road games at Jesup and South Winneshiek Monday and Tuesday, November 24 and 25 before also playing at MFL/MarMac Tuesday, December 3 and then hosting New Hampton Friday, December 5.
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