Area Female Athlete: New role hasn't slowed Verndale's Glenz

Shania Glenz

Year: Sophomore

School: Verndale

Sport: Girls Basketball

Position: Forward

Highlights: Tallied 39 points and 13 rebounds against Bertha-Hewitt

It was a loss, but it showed how versatile Shania Glenz can be.

With older sister Jordyn Glenz nursing an ankle injury, Shania Glenz transformed from a perimeter player to a post player to help the Verndale Pirates girls basketball team.

The result was 39 points and 13 rebounds in a 66-65 Park Region Conference loss to Bertha-Hewitt Bears Jan. 30.

"They were guarding me more out on the perimeter so I was able to score most of my points in the post," said Glenz. "I've been struggling from the outside this year so the move to the post has helped. I just needed to realize I can score from there and since then things have been going well."

The loss was the lone hiccup in Verndale's last seven games. Glenz scored 16 in the Pirates' 64-34 win over Ashby Jan. 29. She led all scorers with 19 points in a 49-37 win over Menahga Jan. 27 and tallied 23 points in a 74-47 win over Pillager. The three-year starter opened the seven-game stand with 28 points in a 69-55 victory over Swanville Jan. 20.

Since her blowout game against Bertha-Hewitt, Glenz secured 10 points and 12 rebounds in a 52-35 win over Underwood and totalled 18 points and 10 rebounds during Thursday's 54-43 win over Henning.

"Last year she really only played post once in a while in order to take advantage of mismatches," said Verndale head coach Art Schluttner. "She's been in kind of a shooting slump so this has been a good move. She's also a very good rebounder. She's probably our strongest girl we have on the team so she really needed to step up to that role for us."

Glenz said she couldn't remember the last time she played without her sister in any sport, but she and the Pirates, who played in last year's North Subsection 5-1A championship, have had to adjust.

"We've had to change some things offensively," said Schluttner. "Most of the time last year, at least early in the season, she hung around the perimeter and we've slowly been trying to make her move to play inside.

"We've started to move the ball around and get it inside because Shania is tough to guard inside."

Last season Glenz finished with 397 points (14.7 per game), 139 rebounds, 78 assists, 56 steals and one blocked shot. This season she's scored 266 points for a 17.5 points-per-game average. She's also upped her rebounding average to 9.0, assists to 3.0 and steals to 3.0.

Her outside struggles have hampered her shooting percentage as she's hitting on just 37 percent of her shots and 61 percent from the line.

"I've been practicing playing in the post for a while," said Glenz. "I figured I would be playing down low early on so I practiced in the offseason."

Asked if she minded the contact often endured in the paint, Glenz laughed and said she liked it.

"We've really needed her to become a better rebounder because her sister was a great rebounder for us," said Schluttner. "She has done a nice job for us this season. Shania has taken on that role. She's been really good at getting offensive rebounds. She has the tenacity for rebounding."

Glenz's main personal goal is to reach 1,000 career points and she realizes getting easy putbacks will only help in her quest for the scoring milestone.

"She's only a sophomore and has played a lot of varsity already," said Schluttner. "We need her to not necessarily be a vocal leader but to be a great rebounder and do the small things for us.

"As a team, we expected to have lots of success this season and so we were hoping all the girls would step up their games. Circumstances have certainly forced Shania to have to step up even more."

Other notable performances:

Basketball: Gabby Martin, Pillager, finished with 28 points and seven steals against Nevis.

Grace Wolhowe, Staples-Motley, scored 30 points against Foley and 24 against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle.

Marlee Moore, Lake Region, finished with 24 points against Foreston and 15 against Faith Christian to reach 1,000 career points and added 24 against Christian Learning.

Megan Felthous, Pine River-Backus, scored 30 points against Wadena-Deer Creek and 21 against Blackduck.

Haley Wiebolt, Pequot Lakes, finished with 22 points against Park Rapids.

Quin Uhlman, Staples-Motley, scored 22 points against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle.

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop .