Scouting Elgin Maroons

Elgin Maroons

Last year: 9-20 (1-11 UEC River)

Coach: Nick Bumbales (5th year, 12-99)

Top returning players: Seniors Maggie Powers (5-5, PG), Jessica Ramirez (5-9, C), Anna Eckholm (5-6, G), Tamara Milosevic (6-1 C), Melanie Berg (5-8, F); juniors Destiny West (5-9, C), Abby Pierre-Louis (5-9, F).

Outlook: Bumbales is covered on the experience end this season. Powers is a four-year player and a two-year captain. She’s also the leading returning scorer at 6.5 points per contest. Ramirez also is a four-year player and a two-year captain. She averaged 4 points and 9 boards a game. Eckholm and Milosevic are three-year varsity players. Milosevic averaged 7 rebounds a game. Berg averaged 4 points, while West averaged 6 rebounds and Pierre-Louis averaged 6 points and 7 rebounds as sophomores. “This is a veteran group that got a lot of playing time the last couple years,” said Bumbales. “They are great kids and are fabulous in the classroom and are multisport athletes.” Pierre-Louis and Powers will be key pieces to the puzzle this season. “Abby will be big for us,” said Bumbales. “As she comes along, the team will progress. We put her on the perimeter. She’s extremely athletic, hard to guard and has a lot of jumping ability. Maggie’s been our stalwart at point guard and is our most important player overall. Without her we have major issues. She is very intelligent. She’s like another coach out there.” Eckholm usually guards the opposing team’s best defensive player. “Anna is our best defensive player,” said Bumbales. The Maroons reached the championship games last year in the Elgin Academy and Elgin City Classic tournaments. “Our goal is to win a championship this year,” he said. “We haven’t won one since (1996). These girls have progressed as a group. A lot of these girls have been on the varsity for awhile so we’re not starting from scratch.” Bumbales is thrilled with the progress of the program as a whole with 56 girls playing at Elgin (14 varsity, 27 sophomore team, 15 freshman team). “The numbers are very good,” he said. “There is a lot of enthusiasm and girls want to be part of what we are doing. We’ve made strides as a program.” Bumbales said Geneva and Batavia will be among the top-tier contenders in the UEC River.