Last season was a successful one for the Columbus Wildcat girls’ basketball team. The Wildcats won 16 games during their last campaign, while losing seven games. It was the fourth year in a row where Columbus produced double digit victories, and it was the second most wins in program history.

The Wildcats bring back a handful of starters from last year’s squad, but the team’s leading scorer will be missing. Kelsey Pretz graduated this May after a productive senior campaign. She scored 447 points last year, the most in a single season in Wildcat girls’ basketball history, and the third most in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North last season. Pretz earned numerous postseason awards, including a third-team all-state selection.

Columbus’s leading returning scorer this winter is junior guard Bailey Stroud. She averaged 7.4 points and four rebounds per game as a starter last season. Stroud and senior forward Laura Minks (5.5 ppg, 6.6 rpg) were both honorable mention all-conference performers last season.

Head coach Kasey Keltner enters his third season as Columbus’s head girls’ basketball coach. He says this year’s team doesn’t have anyone measuring above 5 feet 8 inches tall, adding rebounding and good team defense will be key in order to compete in the conference this season.

The Columbus Wildcat girls’ basketball team opens their season next Tuesday on the road competing against the WACO Warriors.