New coach, freer offense key as Arcadia girls basketball hopes for better season
Arcadia girls basketball coach Evan Pagel instructed his players through a drill at practice last Friday. Pagel thinks the Raiders should be competitive in his first season as head coach. (Times photograph by Benjamin Pierce)
When Evan Pagel watched the Arcadia High School girls basketball team last season, he felt there was more talent and potential than the team’s record showed.
As the junior varsity coach, he watched the Raiders work to a six-win season and a fifth place finish in the Coulee Conference.
And as Pagel — entering his first year as the varsity coach — addressed his team for the first time this year, his message was that the team is better than they might think.
“Last year we were better than a six win team. So this year, we should absolutely be better than a six win team,” he told the Times.
Arcadia opens the 2022-23 season against Altoona on Thursday, the first chance for the Raiders to show a more aggressive offense under Pagel.
Arcadia brings back its top two players from a season ago—senior Breah Golden will lead the offense after averaging 18.7 points per game as a junior last year and earning first team all-conference honors. She will be helped by junior Casidi Pehler, who contributed about 10 points per game as a sophomore to earn a second team all-conference nod.
Golden, a player Pagel described as hardworking and whose mindset is “just basketball, basketball, basketball,” was set to commit to play Division 2 college basketball for Lake Superior State this week.
Pehler will work under the net a lot this season but will also see some time at guard.
“She’s (Pehler) the strongest athlete we have with size and strength, so comparing that to her guard skills that she has from her background. … it’s cool to see her piece all of these things together,” Pagel said.
Some weeks Golden will be the offensive focus, and others will see Pehler take the lead. But senior Alyssa Schank is a “scrappy” player who can score and underclassmen Jaicee Kolstad, Kaitlyn Bremer and Kanah Slaby will also be important to success, according to Pagel.
This year’s team will be more active.
“As soon as we move, we’re diving into the rim. We’re moving without the ball. We were stationary last year, we were watching the ball,” Pagel said.
“We were watching Breah work, we were watching Casidi and those other girls do their individual skills, but this year, it’s going to be, ‘Okay, I don’t have the basketball. What am I going to do now to free myself up?’ I want them to want to be scorers.”
West Salem figures to be near the top of the Coulee Conference standings again this year along with Luther and Westby, and Arcadia will play many Mississippi Valley Conference teams as well.
Arcadia hopes to be in the conference fight and thinks they can compete with the top Coulee teams. But it’s going to take a lot of improvement and continuing to grow together, Pagel said.
He’s excited to bring a new energy to the program and hopefully see it take form.
“We want to make other people see the change that’s going on and make them believe that something special is happening in Arcadia,” Pagel said. “Our numbers haven’t been the best in the past, but we’re gaining interest around basketball here.”
