Lady Vikings Looking For Answers

The start of every new season brings its own share of unique challenges and questions for every high school sports team.

On Tuesday, Nov. 22, the Nichols Schools girls’ basketball team gathered in the Gerard Gymnasium for another day of training camp and another day of trying to find the answers to the questions that loom over them.

The biggest question for the Lady Vikings, who will once again be competing in the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association is, who will step up and fill the void on offense left by the graduation of Lindsay Hogan and sisters Erika and Lauren Cromwell?

The most logical choices to do so will be senior point guard Kendra Jones and junior center Imani Dockery, who goes about 6-foot-1.

Long time head coach Bob Torgalski has made it clear that he will be counting on Jones and Dockery to deliver on the scoreboard and as floor leaders. But Torgalski isn’t one to sugarcoat anything and said Jones and Dockery, as well as every girl, must prove themselves in game situations.

“We don’t know if they can do it yet. That’s gonna be the big question mark,” Torgalski said.

“We’re working on getting them ready. They’re working hard at it, but when you just shoot around in a gym and doing it for real, that’s two different things. So we can’t really tell until we start playing games. We’re scrimmaging now. We’re running pretty well and we’re getting good shots, balls not going in yet. But practice makes perfect.”

Jones said that as veterans, she and Dockery know what is expected and will do their best to deliver.

“Everyone is working really hard to fill in those spaces and get where we were last year,” Kendra Jones said.

The Vikings will also look to senior forward Ava Bueme, junior forward/guard Ta’Nia Cunningham, and sophomore Jillian Niedzialowski. Senior guard Leeanne Jones, who Torgalski says will see a great deal of time, could either start or be the first girl off the bench. Depending on who the opponent is.

“She’ll see a lot of minutes,” Torgalski said. “She’s tough, like her sister Kendra.”

One of the toughest taskmasters in WNY high school basketball, Torgalski can be very hard on his players, but the girls know that their coach sets the bar high because he wants them to demand the best from themselves.

When you make Torgalski smile or get that pat on the back the girls smile because they know they have really accomplished something because they worked so hard to impress their coach.

“Yeah he definitely sets the expectations pretty high,” Kendra Jones said with a smile. “I guess you could look at it one way-the negativity (of him yelling). But I think a lot of us just look at the positive side of it. He just wants to see the best out of us. We get where he is coming from. When he tells you nice job, that’s an awesome thing!”

Cracking one of his rare smiles, Torgalski said that is exactly the end goal behind his sometimes gruff demeanor. He wants every girl who walks through the gym to go on to success in everything they tackle. And as a coach, he feels it’s his job to give them whatever ever lessons he can to help them realize their dreams.

“We push them for the main purpose we want them to go to the next level,” Torgalski said. Torgalski pointed to success stories like Kaitlin Donahoe and Bri Smith, who were both multiple sport standouts while at Nichols as examples of girls who demanded success and found it on the playing fields as well as the class room.

The Vikings lineup also includes Emma Hawkes, Jillian Boltz, Maren Geiger, Ann Sauer, Alexandra Villafuerte and Yilin Xu.