Hoops '21: Winning Delta girls program has come a long way in just three years

There’s a striking difference between the time Kendall Holweg and Ashley White began their decorated Delta basketball careers and today.

The Bobcats fielded a shoestring roster of seven players their freshman season, when wins were few and far between.

So were intrasquad scrimmages.

Holweg remembers recruiting her then-junior high sister, Presley Holweg, to help the Class 1 varsity program have adequate 5-on-5 numbers.

Three years later, Delta is one of the state’s premier small-school programs with enough depth to compete with some of the area’s largest schools.

The Bobcats — who now have 17 players — recently gave Jackson and Notre Dame stiff tests in a jamboree.

A program-changing resolve has helped cultivate a basketball culture for veteran coach David Heeb.

It was sparked by Holweg and White, a tandem that wasn’t sure if their school could even field a team their freshman year.

“It started with them,” Heeb said. “Two years ago, there wasn’t a player on our roster older enough to drive a car.”

Holweg and White have each scored more than 1,000 points in their respective careers.

“It’s been one of the best things I’ve been a part of, turning out the program with (White),” Holweg said.

Delta, which advanced to the Class 1 state quarterfinals last year, returns its entire starting lineup of All-District talents such as Holweg sisters, White, Addison Nichols and Lacey Blattel.

The Bobcats also feature talented junior Gracie Branam who is back after last season’s injury and promising freshman Jade Berry.

Holweg, also one of the region’s top track and field athletes, is a versatile, speedy 5-foot-7 small forward who complements White, a sharpshooting guard who hit 66 3-pointers two seasons ago.

The tandem went 9-14 as freshmen, 18-10 as sophomores and 21-6 as juniors.

Heeb, whose long coaching career includes a head stint at NAIA Robert Morris, wasn’t coy about the expectations of his guard-heavy squad.

“We want to win the whole thing,” Heeb said. “There’s going to be a few teams with the talent to do it, and we feel like we’re among them.”

Delta believed it had the means to potentially reach last year’s Class 1 finale, but the Bobcats missed 11 free-throws in a 65-63 quarterfinal loss to South Iron.

Holweg, who is generating interest from Division I track and small-college basketball programs, has been waiting to atone for the loss.

“Everyone is pumped,” said Holweg, the 2021 Semoball Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year winner and Girls Basketball Player of the Year finalist. “We’re excited for games to start, show what we can do. Everyone is working hard every single day. The goal is to get to state.”

Delta begins its season on Nov. 29 at the Valley Tournament.