The Knoxville Girls Basketball Squad will have at least ten players that will be relied on to be contributors this season. While there is not one or two dominant scorers as has been in past seasons, Coach Matt Ritchhart tells KNIA/KRLS Sports with the style of play and aggressive defense he intends to employ, he will need all ten to make a contribution.

Ritchhart: “We feel like we have about ten girls to throw out a stay fresh with what we’re doing we want to stay as fresh as we can. We hope to stay healthy and with no games yet, we truly don’t know and I don’t think a coach can tell you how deep their team is going to be until they have games.”

Junior Emma Dunkin is the leading returning scorer at 9.9 points per game. After that Ritchhart says several players will need to score, something they have not been required to do in past seasons. He adds Emma’s younger sister Hannah will play as a freshman, Junior Larissa Wells returns at one of the guard spots as well as Charlee Heffron and Brittany Bacorn. The Panthers will play their annual Pride scrimmage against Ottumwa at Knoxville High School tonight at 7:30, the regular season starts Tuesday against PCM, which is our opening broadcast of Knoxville Basketball on 95.3 KNIA with all home games live on the KHS Activities YouTube Channel.