The girls’ basketball has begun at St. Louis High School as practice began Nov. 19, 2025
There are only 11 girls playing meaning there is only one team—varsity. The team consists of eight freshmen, no sophomores, two juniors, and one senior. Their coach, who is also the St. Louis High School librarian, is Mr. Knauf.
Knauf has been coaching girls’ basketball at St. Louis for many years, but this will be his fifth year coaching girls. He defines a successful season as, “Making sure the girls are getting better, meaning the team gets better and the end results in more wins.” Knauf explains that the best part about coaching is, “ Seeing the players get better, working together, and pushing them to achieve the common goal of winning and getting better.”
The team has had three basketball games this season. They are off to a great start with two out of three games won so far. The only senior on the team, Halle Hoyt, expresses that, “Being the only senior is definitely a crazy feeling because it felt like just yesterday I was a freshman.” Hoyt has been playing since the fourth grade, but this year she tore her anterior cruciate ligament so she won’t be able to play. “I’m hoping to just be a good teammate and help my teammates learn and get better,” she explains.
Paige Luneack is a junior on the team and she hopes to score at least 15-20 points per game. Luneak has been playing basketball since she was five years old. “I enjoy the adrenaline the game gives me,” she states. Luneack says that, “I think we will end up having a good season. We have a lot of freshmen so we are just getting into things right now, but we could have a solid team moving forward.”
Emma Pavlik is one of the many freshmen on the team. Pavilik has been playing basketball for six years and she states that, “Being a freshman on varsity is kind of a lot of pressure because you have to fill the shoes of the previous who’ve had more experience. On the other hand, I really enjoy it because most people think that a team full of freshmen isn’t very good but we aren’t bad, we just have room to improve.”
