Courtesy Photo The 2022-23 Alpena High girls basketball team includes: back row: Coach Laura Dubey, Emily Kalisch, Reaghan Fitzpatrick, Kiera Prue, LIndsey Rondeau and assistant coach Jasmyn Schultz; front row: Reese Wisniewski, Olivia Precord, Laurel Alberts, Marah Wisniewski, and Avery Dubey.

ALPENA — The Alpena High girls basketball team has a difficult and challenging season ahead.

The Wildcats retained three out of five starters and graduated several of its top scorers from last season.

Alpena is off to a 1-2 start to the season after defeating Oscoda earlier last week and dropping contests to Cadillac and Sault Ste. Marie.

“We need to improve on our defense. We have to box out way better than we did against Oscoda,” Alpena coach Laura Dubey said. “We’re starting a whole week earlier this year than we normally would, so that was a great opportunity to improve and get better,”

Although Alpena’s defense struggled in the first game of the season, Reese Wisniewski, Marah Wisniewski, and Avery Dubey have proven themselves to be great defenders in the past. Wisniewski broke the single-game steals record with a total of 12 in Alpena’s opener.

These three girls have high expectations set on them and are going to be key veteran players for the Wildcats.

“My expectations for these girls are to be leaders on the floor and to be smart since they have played girl’s varsity basketball the longest,” Dubey said. “I’d also like for them to step up in our Big North Conference games because they know how tough those games really are.”

Besides the early defensive problems, Alpena has proved to be an aggressive and fierce team that doesn’t step down to a challenge. This could be a very important trait as the season progresses and its matchups get more difficult.

“My favorite thing about our team is we are really scrappy. Not only do we have one or two scorers this year, but I believe we have four or five girls that can score the basketball,” Dubey said. “At this point, I think there are some definite kids that are underestimated. Some kids are going to play and the fans are going to wonder where she had been the last few years,”

A different dynamic this season’s team compared to years past is its height and ability to play big in the post.

Reaghan Fitzpatrick, Emily Kalish, and Kiera Prue will secure the center position for the Wildcats, allowing Alpena to compete with anyone they play down low.

After finishing in third place last year in the Big North Conference, there are high hopes to keep improving. The Wildcats went 14-10 and had a special run in March last season, making it all the way to regionals before ultimately getting knocked out by a talented Midland Dow team.

Alpena has confidence it can make it back again this year and potentially go even further.

“I think we stack up just as good if not better than last year. We split every game last year with the BNC, but we should at least do the same this year.” Dubey said.