By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Perennial state girls power Washburn Rural will have to make do without junior star and Kansas State commit Maddie Vickery for at least the early portion of the 2025-2026 season.
Kevin Bordewick begins his 17th season as Washburn Rural's girls basketball head coach and his 33rd in the program. [File photo/TSN]
But Kevin Bordewick, who is starting his 17th season as the Junior Blues' coach in basketball, said his team has to view Vickery's absence as a chance to get other Rural players accustomed to competing at the Class 6A level.
“It’s going to give us a great opportunity to have others to step up and do other things more,'' Bordewick said. "I’m really excited about the kids we have coming back and some freshmen who are going to step up and play major minutes and we’re going to have a good mix.''
“We work a lot on ball movement and working together instead of relying on (Vickery) to score and rebound for us. I feel like we’ve been more aggressive on shooting, driving and other aspects, too,” senior Ella Hirschi said.
Hallie Walker, Hirschi and Josie Carlgren will be the seniors of this season's Washburn Rural group.
Bordewick said junior Brooklyn Rutherford will be a key contributor and got some big minutes last season. Kailyn Peterson is a post player Bordewick said the Junior Blues will use and he said four freshmen will get minutes.
“We’re all really hard workers,'' Carlgren said. "We want to get better every single day at practice, we all push each other to get better. If there is something that someone needs to work on, we’ll keep them on track, and that goes for everybody.''
Bordewick has led Washburn Rural to 10 6A state titles in volleyball and basketball and said there’s no secret ingredient to success, but said it does come down to some variables.
“You can’t win if you don’t have good athletes,” he said. “They have to work hard, they have to believe in themselves and I think what we try to get out of them is really up to them.
"I told the freshmen, 'We’re going to be on you even as freshmen because if you’re on this varsity group, you’re a varsity ballplayer, you’re not a freshman so we’re going to treat you as a varsity ballplayer and we have standards that we don’t lower no matter what.''
Bordewick said he really likes the desire of this team on and off the court and them wanting to get to that next level.
After falling in the first round last year in the state tournament to eventual state champion Blue Valley North, Bordewick said the Junior Blues have to value the ball more, make free throws and out-rebound the opponent more.
Bordewick said the Blues don’t want drama and they want coachable kids who will respect their teammates, teachers, classmates and others around them and he said especially when adversity may hit a little bit with Vickery out, it will help them.
“We try to get the most we can out of them,'' Bordewick said. "By and large, we’ve been pretty successful with the athletes we’ve had that have given their all.
“It’ll benefit them and the whole team as well. We have to increase our productivity, our efficiency and we do that by playing hard against each other. We challenge each other in practice to do stuff like that.”
