Prep spotlight: Kinnard, Schmelzer make every minute count

Haley Kinnard and Mikki Schmelzer play their best basketball in transition.

But neither of the senior guards sees this season as being a transitional year for the Luxemburg-Casco girls basketball team.

Instead, the veteran duo is viewing it as an opportunity to leave an impression.

After finishing as the WIAA Division 2 state runner-ups last year, the Spartans entered the season with heavy graduation losses and a new head coach in Jeff Jodar.

Given all the changes, Kinnard and Schmelzer knew their varsity experience would be invaluable to the team.

“It’s definitely different than last year,” Schmelzer said. “It’s fun being that leader that people look up to. Our record isn’t where Haley and me want it to be yet, but we’re improving every day and would like to get back at some of the teams we lost to early in the season.”

Despite having to replace 77 percent of the team’s scoring from a year ago, L-C still finds itself on the top half of the standings in the Bay Conference.

The younger Spartans are also battle-tested, having already played the likes of New London, Brillion and Algoma, who are all ranked No. 1 or 2 in their respective divisions.

“We’re just trying to stay positive and keep everybody’s head up,” Kinnard said. “I think starting off the season with a lot of difficult teams really showed us that we had a lot of work to do. We are getting better at those things and it should help us for the tournament.”

Jodar said Kinnard and Schmelzer have been crucial to shortening the learning curve for the younger players on his team.

“I can talk about things as a coach to the younger kids, but they can actually do it by example and share their experiences,” Jodar said. “They’re kind of carrying on that tradition of L-C basketball.

“Our goal is to continue some of the things that have been done in the past. L-C has always been known as a pressure kind of a team, getting up and down the floor and doing a lot out of transition.”

That philosophy showcases the strengths of both Kinnard and Schmelzer, who have been running the court together since 3-on-3 basketball in third grade.

“We don’t have to tell each other what to do on the court, we just know,” Schmelzer said. “It’s fun playing with somebody like that.”

It’s something the tandem isn’t taking for granted in what could be their final season together, as Kinnard plans to continue playing at St. Norbert College, while Schmelzer may do the same if she decides to attend there to become a physician assistant.

“We don’t want to see it end, so we’re going to make every minute out there count,” Kinnard said.