Lincoln area basketball preview: Lady Zebras look to repeat as FVL champions, Raging Rhinos begin first season as varsity basketball team

With the 2022 fall sports season winding down, we are roughly a week away from the start of high school basketball. Here is a look at the boys' and girls' basketball teams at Lincoln High and Twelve Bridges High schools. Lincoln High Girls The Lady Zebras are coming off of one of their most successful seasons in school history where they finished 30-4, winning the Foothill Valley League. They also made it to the section title game at Golden 1 Center and the NorCal championship game. "After having such a successful season last year, I just want to keep that momentum going," Zebras coach Amy Avila said. "I want to build off the energy from last year's squad and continue enforcing our defensive strategy, which I believe took us to the section and NorCal finals last season." Lincoln High is losing Madison Barr-Zeltvay, who averaged 10 points and more than four steals per game. They will also be without other solid defensive players such as Trinity Markert, Lauren Holcomb, Paige Davis and Madalynn Biagi. They are returning one of the top players in the Sac-Joaquin Section, Katie Leeth, who was 12th in the section in scoring with 19 points per game and third in blocked shots with 3.7 per contest. "Some of the things that I've improved on since last season is just making sure I get shots up every day to make my shooting percentage go higher during games," Leeth said. "Something that I still need to work on is definitely using my left hand more and going to the left side more often. A short-term goal for our team is definitely just getting a flow together because of the amount of seniors we lost last year. In the long-term, I believe that our team will make it very far. We have a very positive uplifting team and I'm excited for this year." The Fighting Zebras will also have junior Maya Hodge, who was third on the team in scoring with 9.8 points per game and totaled seven rebounds per contest. They will have multiple players coming up from the JV team who went 17-3 last season. "I'm evaluating the strengths of this year's team and how to utilize those best in our offensive and defensive system," Avila said. "Katie and Maya have filled that leadership role seamlessly. They've established a positive environment for the team through their hard work and positive attitudes. They are both great teammates and leaders." Lincoln High will begin its 2022-23 campaign away against Pioneer High on Nov. 29. Lincoln Boys The Fighting Zebras finished fourth in the Foothill Valley League last season and lost to Center High in the first round of the section playoffs. Lincoln High will be down its top scorer Jake Overbay, who averaged 17 points per game, along with Chace Ferguson, who led the team in assists. Juniors returning are Beni Njomo and Tristan Atienza, who were two of the top three scorers and shooters last season, along with Dylan Fear, who led the team in rebounding. "I feel like one aspect of my game that I've improved the most on is my jumpshot as it has gotten way more consistent and faster," Njomo said. "One thing I need to improve on is learning how to move off the ball better. I can envision that this season, I'm going to see a lot of traps so I'm going to need to learn how to do that at a high level." This season, the Zebras will attempt to improve on their 19-8 record from 2021-22 with a new coach at the helm, Chris Ahrens. Ahrens was the varsity assistant coach last season at West Park High School and the Panthers also qualified for the section playoffs. He graduated from Lincoln High in 2011 and lives down the street from the campus. "We have 10 seniors on our team, which is pretty exceptional and presents a really neat opportunity," Ahrens said. "There's great chemistry between them since they've all played together for years but the challenging aspect now is defining their roles on the team. We need to take each game, each possession and each practice one at a time. I tell our guys 'big vision but small focus.' We'll find success as we worry about doing our absolute best one rep or drill at a time." Lincoln High will begin its season at home on Nov. 18 against River Valley before playing in a tournament from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23. They will face a number of difficult opponents in non-league competition, such as the reigning Pioneer Valley League champions, Marysville, along with Rocklin and Woodcreek. "My overall goal is simply to win the next game one possession at a time," Ahrens said. "I don't really have big goals for what I want accomplished at the end of the season. We should be striving to get better every single day and so that's what we'll try to do." Twelve Bridges Boys The Raging Rhinos are preparing to begin their first season as a varsity basketball team. Last season, Twelve Bridges High went 19-5 as a junior varsity team and only lost one game in Pioneer Valley League competition to Center. "While we did have a good JV season, JV success isn't varsity and we turned it over too much last season," Rhinos coach Robert Ash said. "We've worked on making possessions count and rebounding with younger kids. Physicality will be an adjustment." Despite not having seniors, the Rhinos are returning some of their top players from last season, such as James Sweet and Jack Kendall. "Last season was very important in terms of building chemistry," Kendall said. "I feel like I've improved as a leader and a facilitator for my team. A long-term goal is to just get closer as a team and to make sure that we know everyone's strengths and weaknesses so our team can play to the best of its ability." Twelve Bridges High is also getting three transfers from Lincoln High: Kellen Colyer, Jacob Gilchrist and Jonah Gilchrist. Colyer got nine games of varsity experience for the Zebras last season while Jonah Gilchrist led the junior varsity team with 14 points per game. "The challenge is getting the group established and getting the kids who moved on the same page," Ash said. "I do think they are impact guys who will help us compete. We are in the conversation of if we share the ball and play together, we feel like we have a chance to have success in the league. It's just a matter of who will step up for us." The Rhinos will begin its season at home against Stagg on Nov. 19 before facing El Dorado on Nov. 22. They will also face Rocklin, Pleasant Valley and Nevada Union among other teams in non-league action. Twelve Bridges Girls The Lady Rhinos had a successful JV season last year going 16-7 and 6-3 in the Pioneer Valley League. They were led by Jaisleen Kang and Siena Cotta, who both averaged more than 12 points per game, along with Ayanna Woods, who averaged nearly a double-double with 9.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest. "We want our program's strong start last year at the JV level to continue building momentum going into our inaugural varsity season," Rhinos coach Chris Garrison said. "To be prepared for the next level of play both physically and mentally, we have been conditioning and practicing regularly during the spring, summer and fall off-season periods leading into our inaugural varsity season. By doing so, this has maximized our growth and potential as both individual players and as a team in whole while strengthening resolve and mental toughness." Twelve Bridges High will also have extra talent with junior transfer Ashley Williams, along with freshman Madalyn Sigrist. The hardest task for the Rhinos will be contending for a league title as they have to face a potential state title contender in Colfax who is returning its entire roster, along with solid Bear River and Marysville teams. "This is a very tough and competitive league from top to bottom. We definitely have our work cut out for us," Garrison said. "To make the playoffs, we have to finish in the top three of the Pioneer Valley League this year. To do so, we'll have to dethrone at least one of those teams as well as contend with the rest of the league also trying to do the same thing. We always set our main goal to the loftiest standard possible, a state championship. If we fall short of our main goal, we simply re-evaluate, re-commit and re-fine ourselves to go after that same goal again next year. With any long-term goal, you have set milestone goals along the way. Two of those milestone goals and expectations that we are looking to accomplish this season are first, to prepare ourselves to be a tough, gritty and well-disciplined team despite being young and inexperienced and second, to make the playoffs during our inaugural varsity season." The Lady Rhinos will begin their varsity campaign away at Franklin High on Nov. 21. Their home opener will be on Dec. 6 against Rocklin High.