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Last week, Keith profiled one half of the Wirth twins. Today, I’ll preview the other half. LeeAnne Wirth carved out a steady role last season as a freshman and now looks to improve on that in her sophomore campaign.
Jenn and LeeAnne are very different players, but complement each other perfectly, just as twins should do. Jenn is more offensive-minded and a solid rebounder. LeeAnne is the defensive stopper. Last year, LeeAnne averaged 3.5 points in 11 minutes per game. She played in 31 games and was primarily used as a defensive presence in the front court. Her stats may not be eye-popping (14 steals, 10 blocks), but if you watch their games, you’ve seen that she forces opponents to take difficult shots.
In high school, LeeAnne averaged 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. It’s very possible with an uptick in minutes this season that she could get back to averaging one of each per game. There are a couple different routes that Coach Fortier can go, but seemingly the most popular one would be starting Jenn Wirth alongside Zykera Rice, which would leave LeeAnne as the first big off the bench.
The Zags don’t necessarily need LeeAnne to be an offensive superstar. She didn’t have to be last season when they had Jill Barta to go along with Rice and Jenn. This season, they probably expect a little bit more on the offensive end. The biggest concern from last season is her 45% clip from the free-throw line (18-for-40).
If LeeAnne continues her stellar defensive play and produces a slight uptick in offensive production, she will become one of the better bench players in the WCC.