It has the reigning Mississippi Athletic Conference player of the year. It possesses size, length and athleticism at about every spot on the court. It has depth.
And it also has a giant bull’s-eye on its back.
The Pleasant Valley High School girls’ basketball team is the preseason conference favorite and ranked fourth in Iowa Class 5A following a state semifinal appearance a year ago.
“When you have target on your back, it can’t be life or death every single practice,” PV coach Jennifer Goetz said. “It just weighs on you, and it doesn’t always make it enjoyable.
“This group wants to win, it is serious and they were not satisfied with last year, but we have to worry about what we can control now in November and finding that balance, which includes me. When do I push them or not push too much?”
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The postseason is 2 ½ months away. There is still 21 regular-season games to tackle and a conference title to defend.
PV has used the phrase: “What’s Important Now” a lot through the preseason.
“Intensity and focus are the big things,” junior Jessie Clemons said. “If we decide to coast, that’s going to kick us in the butt in February. If we lose our focus, if we look toward the future too early, then we will get caught in the stress and pressure of it all.”
Time will tell how Goetz’s team handles the heightened expectations, but there is no denying the talent.
PV returns two starters from last year’s 22-3 campaign — Marquette University signee Halle Vice and Clemons, an Iowa State University softball commit. It has three sophomores who saw extended minutes that likely will move into the starting lineup in guard Reagan Pagniano and forwards Quinn Vice and Addy Maurer.
With the exception of Pagniano, the rest of the starting lineup is 5-foot-8, 5-11, 6-1 and 6-2. The Spartans will bring more size and length off the bench with 5-10 sophomore Hailey Asselin and 6-1 freshman Isabelle Kremer.
The Spartans allowed a MAC-low 37.3 points and generated 16 steals per game last season. PV believes it can be just as disruptive on the defensive end with its length and quickness.
“It starts with our defense,” Pagniano said. “Our defense leads into our offense.”
And there is a slew of offensive options.
Besides Halle Vice, who averaged nearly 20 points per game last season, Goetz said the Spartans have the personnel to score at all three levels.
“We have quite a few kids right now that can put the ball in the basket, more than about any other year I’ve been here,” said Goetz, who is in her 12th season directing the Spartans. “It isn’t a secret, we have one of, if not the best player in the state of Iowa in our gym.
“You take her 20 points a game away and we have kids who have absolutely worked their tails off this offseason to improve their skill set. It is going to show on the court.”
Goetz said Pagniano, Quinn Vice and Maurer made substantial leaps in the offseason. Pagniano is fully healthy after a knee injury two years ago. Quinn Vice and Maurer have added strength.
“We’ve made a few changes to our offense this year,” Halle Vice said. “We’re finding different ways to score and multiple people who can score. You can’t guard just one person.”
Goetz has emphasized tempo in the preseason, wanting her team to push the pace more than it has in the past.
“The shot clock has to be our friend this year,” Goetz said. “We don’t want it to be an issue for us offensively, which I don’t think it will be, but defensively we want to be very difficult for teams to score against us.”
For as good as last season was — a conference championship by three games, a regional final win on its home court and the program’s first state tournament win — it did end with a 20-point setback to eventual state champion Johnston in the semifinals.
It left a bittersweet taste.
“We still have more to prove,” Halle Vice said. “We’re not satisfied with where we ended last year.”
“It was amazing and we were so proud that we made history for PV girls’ basketball, but every single one of us knew we could do better,” Clemons stated. “We had things to work on in that last game, things we’re working on right now. We’re super excited to be able to work on those things now and get a second chance in February and March.”
But there is plenty of work to be done between now and regionals.
“They’re great goals we have and we want to accomplish, but I think we have to stay true to who we are and what’s going to help us get to that goal,” Pagniano said. “That’s being in the moment.”
PV opens the season Tuesday night at home against Clinton. Then, it has three intriguing games next week — 12th-ranked Davenport North, Bettendorf and 15th-ranked Linn-Mar. It also has fifth-ranked West Des Moines Valley on its schedule before Christmas.
Goetz believes this squad has one of the higher ceilings of any she’s coached at PV.
“Our timing is still a little off and we’re still getting used to playing with each other,” she said, “but that’s where we need to be in November. If everything was clean, cut and crisp, I’d be really concerned. It’d be like, ‘How much better can we get in January and February?’
“For the longest time, it was getting over that hurdle of getting to state. We got that monkey off our back. This group wants more than that, but the target can’t weigh on our back so much that everything becomes so tense. We have to enjoy it as well.”