With four veteran starters graduating, the three-time defending state champion Madison Warhawks will be a different team when the 2022-23 basketball season tips off next season.
But that doesn’t mean the girls high-school squad will be unsuccessful, according to longtime head coach Kirsten Stone.
The coach is planning to return, and the Warhawks will have two key players back in forward Sarah Link and guard Kayla Dixon. Each has been a starter at times the last two seasons and big contributors. They have been varsity players on the three-straight state-championship teams.
Link scored eight points and had four rebounds, a steal and one assist in the 2002 state final.
Also returning will be Avery Griepentrog, who was a valuable substitute this season when the Warhawks finished 27-2, won their final 19 games and a fifth Virginia High School League state crown. She scored three points and had a key block, an assist and a rebound in the state final.
Also back will be Stella Gougoufkas and Adeline Suryabudi. Each received playing time this past season.
In addition, Stone said players will move up from junior varsity and freshmen teams that finished with impressive 15-1 and 12-4 records, respectively, this past season.
All of that leaves the coach optimistic.
“It will be fun and a challenge next season,” said Stone, who has 289 career victories and has been a part of four state championship teams at Madison. “We won’t be a favorite to win the state again, but we can still be pretty good. We look forward to that. We will have some good players back.”
Stone was a starting player on Madison’s state championship team in 1993.
NOTES: Three of Madison’s graduating seniors will play college basketball. Forward Mia Chapman will play at Dickinson College. Guards and twin sisters Grace and Alayna Arnolie will play at Brown University and Gettysburg College, respectively. The three were members of all three Madison state championship teams, as were senior Kiera Kohler and twin sisters Katie and Jill Koshuta. The four sisters and Kohler were four-year varsity players, helping Madison compile a 93-10 record during that time.