LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN BASKETBALL

RENKEN LOOKS TO LEAD YOUTHFUL REDSKIN HOOPSTERS

By Staff

            LITTLE RIVER – Graduating just one senior, the Little River boys’ basketball program will have another year of being noticeably young on paper but full of energy and determination on the court.

            Erik Base returns for his fourth season as head coach of the Redskin program and will once again have the honor of being assisted by former hall-of-fame college coach Roger Trimmell.

            Base has an overall record of 44-24 after guiding the team to a record of 11-11 in 2023/24 while finishing third in the Wheat State League.

            “We were a very young team last season,” noted coach Base. “May guys were having to fill vacate holes as we returned just two players. Those same two players, Andrew Smith and Logan Renken, did an excellent job of leading our many sophomores and freshmen.”

            The good news for 2024/25 is that Andrew Smith was the lone senior lost to graduation and Logan Renken is the only senior on this season’s roster.

            Renken returns after averaging 10 points and 5 rebounds per game as a guard/forward while making second-team all-league and honorable mention all-state. The other top returnee is junior Jaxson Konen who played guard, made honorable mention all-league after putting up 9.2 points and 2.5 assists per game.

            Coach Base had this to say about the returning Redskins, “We will return many players who gained valuable game-time experience last year while still looking at a young roster with just one senior and two juniors.”

            Beyond Renken and Konen, other Redskins looking to build off playing time from last season will be junior Ty Janette and sophomores Jaren Garrison, Blayne Baldetti, Jhet Ewertt, and Logan Schubert.

            In his final reflections about the upcoming season, coach Base added, “A large part of our team will come from sophomores and freshmen. With that being said, this group had to play a lot of minutes and has had a great summer. We look to take a few big steps forward this year and be competitive in our league and division.”

boys will open the 2024/25 season in Goessel playing Canton/Galva for the first round of the Bluebird Classic on Monday, December 9. They will then play Goessel on Tuesday before closing out the Bluebird Classic on Saturday, December 14.

            Little River will then close out the pre-holiday schedule by hosting Moundridge on Tuesday, December 17 and traveling to Wakefield on Friday, December 20.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at macks.people.places@gmail.com)