ANSONIA – Ansonia came on strong late last year and have an experienced core group of girls returning in 2025 and will be a strong team with speed, aggressive defense, shooters, rebounding and competitive fire and will not be an easy out for any team on their schedule this year. Look for the Tigers to challenge for a league title this year. Ansonia coach Connor Custenborder had his girls playing at a high level and the end of last year and is looking to start the 2025-26 season where they left off.
Returning Lettermen
Charlotte Barga* So 5’9” – G – 1st team WOAC as a freshman. Led us in points and steals. Receiving some NAIA and D2 interest and we expect her to receive more and more interest from schools as she enters into her Sophomore year.
London Reichert* Jr. 6’0” F – 2nd team WOAC the past 2 years. Led us in rebounds and blocks. On track to become the career leader in both of those categories at Ansonia. Had a great summer and started to receive some D2 interest over the summer.
Rose Barga* Sr. 5’8” – G – HM WOAC last year. She has definitely used that to motivate her heading into this year, as we think she may have been overlooked by some teams. Really excited to see the progress she made. Starting to receive some NAIA and D3 interest
Olivia Creager* Sr. 5’7” – G/F – A coach’s dream player. Does all of the little stuff that only coaches notice. Guards the 1-5, finishes well around the rim, will run 4 of the 5 positions for us. She has the ability and work ethic to play at the next level.
Lydia Hahn* Sr. 5’4” – G – Lockdown defender. Will guard the other team’s best guard every game. Will have to have an extended role handling the ball this year than she has in the past. Very coachable and willing to do all the little stuff. At 5’4”, she will be one of our consistent box outs.
Autumn Best* So. 5’7” – F – Spark plug is the best way to describe her. She is all over the floor. One of the best athletes I’ve been around. Starting to develop more basketball skills coming off of her freshman year. We expect her to provide a lot of energy for us and create a lot of turnovers.
Key Contributors/Newcomers
Shyann Mckenna So. 5’5” – G – Shy showed great spurts in the varsity action she did get last year. I think a year of playing JV and being the only primary ball handler was great for her. She is going to be expected to come in and handle a lot of ball pressure. She also has the ability to shoot the 3, which is going to help us spread the floor.
Lydia Klingshirn So. 5’11” – F – Injuries stopped her season last year. She was starting to build up a lot of momentum and playing really well for us on JV and was starting to carve out a role for herself on varsity right as she got injured. We expect her to give us good minutes and be a quality post player for us this year. She has a lot of potential, and we are excited to see that and hopefully for a healthy year.
Strengths/Keys To Success
Our strength is our experience. We have two seniors who will be 4-year letter winners. A Sr. and Jr. who will get their 3rd letter this year. And two So. that got letters as Fr. last year. We hope all of this experience helps us cut down on turnovers that have plagued us in the past. Another strength is our speed. We expect to play fast and up-tempo for 32 minutes a night regardless of the score. This year, we have high hopes. We think we can compete for the conference title and make a tournament run. We hope to be recognized by our peers as being in the top tier of the conference, and our girls get the recognition we feel they deserve.
