By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– Rozalyn Schmunk has slowly come into her own the last two seasons entering her senior season at Cascade High School.
An Oregon West Conference first-teamer as a junior, Schmunk has developed into a strong post presence for the Cougars with the dawn of the season about a week away.
“The last couple of years have probably been the most growth I’ve had in the past couple of years. It pushed me to be better,” said Schmunk.
Her, along with the bulk of the Cascade squad, return the bulk of last year’s squad that finished fifth in 4A. Besides Schumnk, the Cougars return Olivia Bennett, Cassidy Crabtree, Pearl Pruett, Bella Dobrkovsky, Halle Hammer and Lainey Klampe as Cascade will look to make it to the final site for the third-straight year come March.
Glenn Norris enters his first-year with the program, taking over for Nick Randall who continued the Cascade Girls Basketball tradition after Mark Stevens retired in 2022. Norris is aware of the program prowess going back to when Stevens built the foundation for the program that he, Norris, can too continue moving it forward into this year as he enters his first year as Head Coach.
“I think it’s been successful for the last 25 years, a longtime. I not only want to maintain that, we’d like to finish a little bit higher than last year. We’re so experienced from last year, we got all but one starter back, so we have high expectations in league and in the playoffs,” said Norris.
Cascade will have a tough preseason slate to help prepare them for the long-run. They open the season at Silverton and will have another Mid-Willamette Conference foe in Crescent Valley before the Capitol City Classic and the Surf N Slam Tournaments at Chemeketa Community College and in San Diego respectively, all before OWC play. Last year the OWC had the 4A State Winner in Stayton and the 4A State Runner-Up in Philomath finish ahead of Cascade in the Tournament, so the Cougars are hoping to be battle tested before making their playoff push.
“It’ll prepare us a bunch and will help us see what’s coming and what we’re going to experience,” said Schmunk. “We’ve all grown as teammates, which has helped and we’ve all grown connections friendship-wise and basketball-wise so we get to know each other and how we each play individually, which definitely helps us.”
The Cougars open the season December 4 at Silverton.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
