New coach hopes to teach winning ways to Belvidere

The Belvidere girls are the fourth basketball team Tim Bukoski has coached in four years, following the Stillman Valley girls, Hononegah girls and Stillman Valley boys.

Bukoski had been looking for a coaching/teaching home ever since Stillman Valley changed his job description.

He finally found it at Belvidere, where he teaches high school health and elementary physical education.

“And I’m back to girls basketball, where I’m more comfortable,” said Bukoski, who was 98-42 in five years at Stillman and 26-7 in his lone season at Hononegah. “This is what I’ve been doing the longest.
It’s a good fit.”

Bukoski is with the Bucs for the long term, as can be seen with one glance at his starting lineup. The Bucs will start four sophomores.

“And our first one off the bench is a freshman,” Bukoski said of 5-foot-8 guard Miranda Goen. “We’re building for the future.”

Courtney Ziegler, Ashley Kugath, Emily Koneval and Autumn Korotasz are the four starting sophomores. All stand between 5-7 and 5-9. And there’s six others behind them.

“This sophomore class goes about 10 deep,” Bukoski said. “We’ll split them up with only four or five on varsity, but there’s more of them. I won’t say that class is worldbeaters, but they are very talented.

“I’ve never started many sophomores before; maybe one at the most. We’ll have to be patient.”

Belvidere’s guards are all young, while the post players are juniors and seniors. Bukoski wishes it were the other way around.

“I’d rather have the guards older to give us the experience and leadership we need, since the ball is in their hands most of the time,” he said. “It could be a long year, but, hopefully, they grow and get better. Right now, there is no leadership, no one in the upper classes who has been there and done that and can show them the ropes.”

-- Matt Trowbridge, rrstar.com

Bucs at a glance
Coach: Tim Bukoski (1st year).
Last season: 9-20 (6-10).
Returning starters: None.
Other key players: Emily Ollman (5-10, Sr.); Katie Wiegartz (5-8, Sr.); Sam Eby (5-11, Sr.); Kyandra Thomas (5-10, Jr.); Paige Clark (5-2, Jr.); Jessica Santiago (5-10, Jr.); Courtney Ziegler (5-8, Soph.); Ashley Kugath (5-9, Soph.); Emily Koneval (5-8, Soph.); Autumn Korotasz (5-7, Soph.) and Miranda Goen (5-8, Fresh.).
Strengths: Pressure defense, decent quickness.
Weaknesses: Virtually no experience, youth and unfamiliarity with new coach and new system.
Outlook: A repeat of last season would be a good start for a team that will remain virtually intact for two more years.