Countdown to tipoff: Hornets’ wealth of returnees, top-notch scorers will lead to success

Coverage of the Brown County girls basketball team provided by:

MT. STERLING, Ill. — Kenzie Kassing expected her scoring prowess to translate to the high school level, but 21.9 points per game on 58 percent shooting and a school-record 43 points in a game as a freshman at Brown County? 

Kassing herself could not have dreamt up a better start to her high school career.

“I knew I would score, but I didn’t think I would be a leading scorer because I knew we would have a lot of other people on our team who could score,” Kassing said. 

Even Hornets coach Dave Phelps, who saw Kassing star on two junior high teams that reached the state tournament, did not anticipate such a seamless transition

“She was really good as a seventh and eighth grader, but she took a step last year that I wasn’t expecting,” Phelps said. “We were pleasantly surprised with how much more mature her game was last year, both facing the basket and with her back to the basket.”

Kassing added 8.1 rebounds, 2.1 steals and two assists per game to her gaudy stat line, which helped her earn Class 1A second team all-state honors from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.

“She’s a once-in-a-generation kind of player,” Phelps said. “I’m excited to be on the sideline watching her grow and mature.”

Kassing’s record-breaking 43-point performance came in a 70-38 Hornets victory over Lewistown on Jan. 6.

“It was insane,” Kassing said. “I was a freshman playing varsity and I just scored 43 points in one game. I didn’t think that was going to happen. We were beating the team by a lot and I was surprised (Phelps) didn’t take me out. I was a little confused, and then he was like, ‘You’ve got to score a couple more.’ Then I was like, ‘Alright.’”

Kassing leads a 2024 Brown County squad that returns all but one player from a team that went 24-5 and had no seniors in 2023.

“If you have two of those classes in a row where you don’t have anybody, it kind of kills your program, but you can usually withstand one year if you have a really strong class either in front of them or behind them, and we’re fortunate enough to have that,” Phelps said.

Luckily for Phelps, he can roll out a lineup that features length, athleticism and versatility abound. Combined with Kassing — who stands 6 feet tall —senior and fellow volleyballer Ashlee Markert’s 6-1 frame and 5-10 sophomore point guard Hope Ingram make for an imposing presence at the top of the Hornets’ full-court press.

“We are long, and we try to take advantage of that not just in the halfcourt sets, but we use it with our pressure because our length is also athletic,” Phelps said. “Ashlee’s the fastest girl on our team at 6-1. If we get in a running race with anybody we play, she’s probably going to win. She’s incredibly fast. Her at the point of our press along with Kenzie and Hope, it’s a lot of length that kids have to throw around.”

Markert cannot help but marvel at the combination of speed and length the Hornets possess.

“Everyone can play anywhere,” Markert said. “Having so many athletes being in different sports — a lot of the basketball players are volleyball players — we have the ability to be quick off our feet, jump, and move. It’s crazy to see our length and height and see how fast we truly are.”

Markert led the Hornets in rebounds, assists and steals last season, a feat Phelps had not seen in his more than two combined decades of coaching boys and girls basketball at Brown County.

“She’s just so athletic at her size,” Phelps said of Markert. “She’s almost too unselfish. She’s the one I’m yelling at to shoot the ball. She’ll get the ball at the 3-foot mark, and she wants to pass it to the kid diving to the basket.”

Kassing on the other hand does not shy away from any shot.

“I don’t have to tell Kenzie to shoot,” Phelps said. “There’s not a shot she doesn’t like.”

That is perfectly fine with Markert.

“I want to let her shine and pass her the ball when she’s open,” Markert said. “She deserves it.”

With both Kassing’s and Markert’s ball handling ability, the Hornets do not have a true point guard in the traditional sense, but Ingram often sets the offense in motion.

“She kind of got thrown into the fire last year,” Phelps said of Ingram. “She ran the point for her junior high team, but making the transition from a junior high point guard to a varsity point guard, there are going to be some growing pains, but it’s going to be better for her and our team in the long run to get her out there right away, have her taking the ball up. She turned the ball over a few times, but toward the end of year, you could see the progression, see the advancement.”

Ingram sensed her and the other six freshmen’s comfort level growing as the season progressed, which she said contributed to the Hornets’ 11 straight wins before their regional championship defeat.

“As freshmen, we were a little nervous, like we didn’t really know how to handle the upperclassmen, but as the season went on, we got to know each other and their strengths,” Ingram said. “That really helped bring our team together. We molded and really got into a flow the rest of the season.”

Phelps has ultimate belief in the 2024 Hornets, which feature nine sophomores and three seniors — Markert, Isabel Duarte and Kyndel Painter — so much so that he would put this Brown County team against any he has ever coached, including the 2020-21 team that went 14-2 and only lost to Quincy Notre Dame by five points and to Illini West by four.

“This is probably the second deepest team I’ve ever had and maybe the most talented from top to bottom,” Phelps said.