Caston girls basketball preview: Douglass ready for season opener, and Lady Comets have other veterans around her

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The most significant accomplishment of the Caston girls basketball team’s offseason was nothing that it planned on.

But when Madi Douglass tore her right ACL and MCL during an AAU game in the first week of April, the team had to do its summer activities without her and was forced to adapt.

Douglass did not do a little of everything last year. She did a lot of everything, leading Caston in scoring (16.5 points per game), rebounding (8.1 per game), assists (3.8 per game) and steals (3.7 per game).

The good news is that Douglass is rehabbed after knee surgery and made it back for the end of volleyball season. Coach Josh Douglass, who is also Madi’s father, said that Madi’s knee is “as good as it can be” given the time frame of her surgery. He added that she will wear a brace, but she hopes to “wean” herself off the brace by Christmas.

“To me, she doesn’t look like she’s missed a beat since last year,” coach Douglass said.

And if other players gained some skills while playing without Douglass, that might only continue to help the team now that she is back.

“Honestly, the most important thing that happened to this team, and I wouldn’t necessarily say it was the way it happened, but learning how to play Madi not being on the court,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said. “That allowed girls to take on roles that they weren’t used to, and it made them better individually and as a team.”

Coach Douglass was asked how difficult the adjustment was.

“If you went and watched the first couple summer games, it was really tough,” coach Douglass said. “Because when we got into a critical situation or you’ve got to get the ball to somebody to just get it down the court, they’re always turning to look to her, and she wasn’t there in those first few summer games, so the progression of where we started when we learned that we weren't going to have her all summer to where we finished was a lot better. They got more comfortable with each other and trusting each other and having to rely on themselves a little bit more to work together as a group and not just being able to turn and give it to Madi and say, ‘Hey, go beat this press.’ Or ‘where’s that other strong ballhandler?’ They had to learn and work together as a group.”

The other senior is 6-1 post player Natalie Warner, who is coming off a season of 2.7 ppg and 3.8 rpg. Warner is a Bethel volleyball commit.

“I hope her expectations are high for herself, where she sets her tone to play defense without fouling,” coach Douglass said. “If we can keep her on the court, we had to be in the positives. But she’d get herself out of control and commit silly fouls is what we call them. Just having her not foul. She’s so long and so athletic, and she can do a lot of really good things out there if she can just stay out of foul trouble, and we can keep her on the court. … There is no reason that girl shouldn’t be a double-double. I mean, just from missed shots, she should be able to get those and lay those back in and grab those rebounds.”

Caston also has a core group of juniors who are in their third year on the varsity – Ellie Zartman, Hadlie Coffing, Grace Colvin, Adyson Steininger, Gigi Berry and Allison Craig.

Colvin will help Douglass with the ballhandling.

“Honestly, I think not having Madi this summer really helped Grace out too,” coach Douglass said. “Because she relied on Madi as that other ballhandler and as that other person, and she would set stuff for Grace and took the pressure off Grace, which made things easier for Grace to be able to do things out there. And vice-versa: Grace takes some of the pressure off Madisyn out there too. So when you have more pressure on you, I think she improved (with) ballhandling. One thing that Grace doesn’t get enough credit for is she sees the court really, really well. The consistency’s got to come on the offensive end.”

Craig, a 5-9 junior who can both score in the post and hit the 3-pointer, became a “totally different animal” out on the court last year, according to Douglass. She had eight points and six rebounds, including a crucial go-ahead 3-pointer, in a home win over North Judson in the regular season, and she had a team-high 15 points in a 33-28 sectional quarterfinal win over North White.

“I say this, but we’ve got to become better passers and not turn the ball over, but there is no reason this team should not be able to score this year,” Douglass said.

Douglass called Coffing, a 5-4 guard, “a solid role player for us.”

“Hadlie needs to be able to take care of the ball,” coach Douglass said. “One thing that she doesn't get enough credit for is her defense. She needs to be able to drive the gaps for us. She can get inside there and make what I call sometimes very tough layups. That’s her game. Drive and kick. Find that open person. And another thing that she does extremely well that doesn’t get a lot of credit for is passing. … She can feed the post really well.”

Coach Douglass wants Zartman, a 5-6 guard, to keep improving her consistency but noted progress in that area over the summer.

“One thing she gets frustrated with herself when she doesn’t hit shots,” coach Douglass said. “She just has to trust herself and just play freely and gain a little bit more confidence in herself with handling the ball.”

Berry has smoothed her shooting stroke and eliminated a hitch in her form, according to coach Douglass. Berry tore her ACL in May 2025 but returned for the start of the season, and coach Douglass said much of the priority was not having her reinjure the knee.

“What we’re looking for Gigi to do is to come in, handle the basketball, so we can run Madi and Grace off different actions and things to get shots,” coach Douglass said. “And knock down the open shot. Because people are going to leave her open, thinking she can’t hit it. We have the confidence in her to step out and knock that down now.”

Adyson Steininger is a 5-11 guard known for her shooting who has improved her defense, according to coach Douglass.

“So far in practice, she has been a lot more physical,” coach Douglass said.

Jordyn Middleton and Lexie Field are the two sophomores who will split time between the varsity and JV. Freshmen Jillian Rentschler, Laci Hook, Olivia Taylor, Kayley Middleton and Jennifer Depoy  and sophomore Marissa Pickett will play JV.

Caston girls basketball schedule

Nov. 3 – at North White, 7 p.m.

Nov. 5 – vs. West Central, 6:30 p.m.

Nov. 7 – at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 10 – at Peru, 7:15 p.m.

Nov. 13 – vs. Triton, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 17 – vs. Argos, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 20 – at Winamac, 7 p.m.

Dec. 1 – vs. Logansport, 6 p.m. (Cass County Invitational, first round)

Dec. 5 – Cass County Invitational at Logansport (field includes Logansport, Lewis Cass, Pioneer)

Dec. 10 – at North Judson, 8 p.m.

Dec. 15 – vs. Pioneer, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 17 – vs. Frontier, 6:30 p.m.

Dec. 19 – at Oregon-Davis, 11 a.m.

Dec. 28-29 – Miami County Invitational at Peru (field includes Maconaquah, North Miami, Peru)

Jan. 5 – vs. Western, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 7 – vs. Culver, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 14 – at Tri-County, 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 15 – vs. Tippecanoe Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 21 – at North Miami, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 26 – at Carroll (Flora), 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 28 – vs. DeMotte Christian, 6:30 p.m.

Feb. 2-6 – Class 1A, Sectional 50 at West Central

Class 1A, Sectional 50

CASTON, DeMotte Christian, Pioneer, North Newton, North White, South Newton, Tri-County, West Central