West Branch Girl's Basketball Team Starts Season Ranked #6 in 2A

West Branch's Haley Poula, center in black uniform, battles for the opening tip-off  during the Bears season opener at Durant on Tuesday, November 24.  The Bears beat the 9th ranked Wildcats to open the season.  Photo by Ryan Stonebraker, Tipton Conservative.

The 2015-16 West Branch girls' basketball team has a lot of potential with both returning talent and some new talent coming into the program. Also, although the team as a whole hasn't had as much together time as some, many of the athletes on the basketball team were recently in the State Semi-Final Match for volleyball. Often, success in one sport will carry over to another.

"We've seen some good things from our team so far," Head Coach Jarod Tylee said. "Our girls have really improved their communication so far in practice, and we need to find some consistence early on both offense and defense. Hopefully, we can compete for one of the top spots in what is a great conference top to bottom. I believe Regina and Durant will be the teams to beat in the South Division (of the River Valley Conference)."

Last season's team was very successful, finishing with a 17-6 record overall, which was a tie for the best girls' basketball record in school history. They advanced to the third round of the post-season. The Bears finished second in the RVC South Division and went undefeated in the RVC North Division and all non-conference games.

The 2014-15 team lost two members, one of them a starter, to graduation: Maddie Russell and Morgan Stoolman. Russell was a starter and a first-team all-conference player and Iowa Girls Coaches Assocation All-District selection.

The team has six seniors this season. Haley Poula was first-team all-conference last season. "(She's a) three-year starter and one of the best post players in the conference," Tylee said.
Allyson Simpson was voted to the Elite All-RVC team. "(She is also) a three-year starter, and was one of the top scorers in the conference a year ago," Tylee said.
Jenae Murry "(is) one of the most physical players in the conference," Tylee said. "and (is) an outstanding rebounder. (She) plays as aggressively as anyone we see all year."
Trystin Luneckas "has consistently improved her all-around game every year," Tylee said. "This will be her second year as a starter and (she) is extremely versatile."
Kara Fountain "(is an) outstanding defender who plays with a lot of toughness. (She) has continued to play through a very tough injury the last few years."
Taylor Milder "(is) a tremendous team player who comes to practice every day and does what is asked of her."

Another all-conference player on the team is Tatum Koenig, a sophomore transfer from West Liberty. Last season, she was voted to the Class 3A Region 4 All-Regional team, to the Class 3A Southeast Team, and to the RVC All-Elite Team. "(She) was one of the best players in the conference last year," Tylee said.

Haley Mullinnix and Paige Miller return to the team this season. "This will be Haley's third year as our starting point guard, and she too is a returning all-conference player," Tylee said. "Paige is our energy off the bench who plays the game fast and aggressively."

This is Tylee's fifth year as head coach of the Bears. He was an assistant coach for four years before that. He will be assisted this season by Rick Sexton, Ted Miller, and Tony Luneckas.