Why expectations are high for Hickman girls basketball this season

After its most successful season in six years, Hickman girls basketball is off to a 6-3 start with high aspirations within the Kewpies program.

“I think we got a really talented group,” head coach Morgan Scott said. “I felt last year we were a final four type team. I think when we play to our capabilities we are a final four type team.”

Last season, Hickman went 19-7, which tied the program’s most victories since the 2016-17 season, but fell in its first game of the Class 6, District 7 Tournament to Blue Springs 52-47, a district that the Kewpies are once again in for the 2023-24 season.

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“We have a very, very tough district,” Scott said. “We typically have like four to five teams who are ranked top 10 in the state, so our district is, I would say arguably, the toughest in the state.”

Along with Blue Springs, the Kewpies share a district along with Grain Valley, Rock Bridge, and Truman, three schools that enjoyed a 20-win season a year prior, and Blue Springs South, Fort Osage, and Smith-Cotton.

Hickman has already defeated Grain Valley and Smith-Cotton. Its most recent victory came against Southern Boone by a score of 61-34, where the Kewpies dominated from start to finish. The Kewpies style of play features them playing hard by going after loose balls and forcing jump balls on the defensive end.

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“We talk about the Hickman way,” Scott said. “When people come to watch, there’s going to be a certain brand that they see out there on the floor, and that’s part of it is first to the floor for loose balls; all these hustle plays have gotta be ours.”

It’s a style of play that predates Scott’s time as head coach and any player currently on the roster.

“I think Hickman girls basketball has a rich tradition. I mean, you talk about the Tonya Mirtz era, and that is Hickman girls basketball,” Scott said. “I know she was always that blue-collar, go-to-work type of coach. We definitely feel like that’s what we’re also instilling here. I think our girls are doing a really good job of making sure that we do that each game.”

The Kewpies leading scorer against Southern Boone was senior Ashytn Kulsmeyer, who tallied 25 points. It was a bounce-back performance after she received a challenge from her head coach.

“I think I responded pretty well after Coach Mo got onto me about being more aggressive in the paint and not settling for outside shots,” Klusmeyer said.

Klusmeyer can score on all levels of the floor, finishing inside the paint while drawing fouls and knocking down 3-pointers. She is one of seven upperclassmen on the Kewpies roster, including juniors Jayda Griffith and Sy’Rae Stemmons, who also scored double-digits in Hickman’s most recent victory. The trio forms a strong core that’s been with the program for some time.

“They’re a group of girls who, for a while when they were young, played a lot, so they had to grow up really fast,” Scott said. “And so now being those juniors and seniors, there are certain things you expect them to be able to do, and also at this point in time when you had them in your program, they help run the program, so the freshman come in, and they know what the expectations are and it’s really good when you have those leaders who can do that.”

Among the Kewpies roster are a couple of transfers who joined the team prior to the 2023-24 season. One player is senior Keyona Hall, who transferred from Liberal High School in Liberal, Kansas, which is located 529 miles away from Columbia. In her short time with the team, she’s already received high praise from her head coach.

“I wish we could have had her longer than just this year,” Scott said. “She adds some good depth to our perimeter, she can slash, she can get to the rim, she’s a gamer. She doesn’t shy away from the moment, and she’s really confident.”

The other transfer is center Addison Carr, a 6-foot-5 post player for California, Mo. Scott mentioned how she’s coming back from an injury over the summer and getting acclimated to the Kewpies system.

“I think she fits in great. I think both of them do, Addy and Keyona,” Klusmeyer said. “They’re amazing for our team, and they just fit our team and chemistry so well.”

The road for Hickman is a long and tough one moving forward. Hickman still has to play Rock Bridge, Helias, Vashon, Cardinal-Ritter, and Battle. The Kewpies have already fallen to Lutheran St. Charles, Nixa, and Troy Buchanan, but lessons can be taken from the early losses.

“We’ve had some mulls already this season early on, we’ve had some good opponents,” Scott said. “So I think it’s shown us a lot of things that we need to get better early on, which you would prefer that happen now than the first round in districts.”

While the bar is set high for the Kewpies, Kulsmeyer and the team feel that they can manage Scott's expectations well.

“I think we take everything she says into whatever we do, and we try to play hard for her,” Klusmeyer said.

Hickman’s next game is on Jan. 2, where the Kewpies will travel to face Capital City at 7 PM.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why expectations are high for Hickman girls basketball this season