Poor Kennedy.

Jade Rogers graduated and joined the Iowa Hawkeyes. The four other girls who started most of the games last year graduated, too, leaving Coach Dennis Roloff with a massive rebuilding job after the Cougars went 21-3 and reached the semifinals of the Class 4A state tournament.

Right? Not so fast, my friend.

The Cougars think they might sneak up on people this season.

“I definitely think there’s that chance,” said Shauna Happel, a 5-foot-7 senior. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think people have a lot of faith in us, because they think our whole team was based on the starters last year.”

Olivia Meier is the top returning scorer at 3.7 points per game, which doesn’t sound like much, but the 5-9 senior played on Team Iowa this past summer with Linn-Mar All-American Kiah Stokes and has signed a national letter-of-intent with Upper Iowa University.

Courtney Strait, Kassi Nunnikhoven, Happel, Kim Muench, Kali Hildebrand, Valerie Ross, Kristen Huebsch, Ashley Schlueter and several other players made valuable contributions last year. In addition, some talented young players have joined the varsity.

“We’re going to surprise a lot of people,” said Roloff, starting his 20th season as head coach. “You could get depressed and say, ‘Geez, we lost all that talent last year.’ But there’s a lot of talent out there. We’ll be all right.”

Roloff has put a string of winning seasons together at Kennedy and reached the semifinals of the state tournament in 2009 and 2010, losing to the eventual state champion both times. The Cougars lost to Sioux City North, 78-72, in the semifinals in 2009 and lost to Linn-Mar, 58-53, in the semis last season.

Rogers averaged 18.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2.6 blocks last season and was named all-state for the fourth straight time. She’ll be the hardest player to replace with her inside skills, but the Cougars also lost Laura Boenish (8.5 points), Haley Brightwell (8.1), Kristen Hahn (7.0) and Mariah Duke (6.9).

“This year, we don’t have a lot of height, so we’re definitely going to run a lot more,” said Straight,  a 5-9 junior who averaged 3.6 points last season ”We’re going to be moving around and we’re going to be running a lot. The more you run, the better you’re going to be.

“If you keep going and you keep pushing, then you’re going to end up out-running the other team,” she said. “And defense is going to lead to that.”

“I think we have a lot of speed, so we’re going to be able to run the ball a lot,” Happel agreed. “We’re going to be more of a scrappy team.”

It’s time for last year’s unsung players to assume a bigger role.

“I definitely think I will do that,” said Happel, a 5-7 senior who averaged 1.9 points last season. “All the seniors last year made sure we all worked really hard, because they knew that when they were gone they wanted us to be ready to step into their roles. So I think a lot of us are ready to step in there.”

Roloff thinks it’s refreshing to build a new team.

“It’s a lot of fun, to see that and to develop a whole new repertoire with the girls that you have now,” he said. “We lost a lot, but the kids that we have are very talented and they’ve worked very hard. I have very talented guards, and it’s always great to start with that.”

The Cougars might turn basketball games into track meets with their speed.

“We’re going to pick up the tempo and we’re going to press,” Roloff said. “We will take a lot of outside shots, but we’ll still hammer it inside and we’ll still drive inside. We just won’t have the luxury of having a Jade there.”

Roloff thinks Kim Muench, a 5-10 senior, will help fill the void inside, but she’s expected to be sidelined with a knee injury for the first month of the season.

“That will help when we get her,” he said. “We’re going to have trouble against teams that have a big girl.”

Huebsch, a 6-foot senior, is Kennedy’s tallest player, according to the roster.

Kennedy hosts Waterloo West in the season opener on Tuesday, Nov. 30.

ROSTER

Seniors (13)

Shannon Beck (5-7),  Shauna Happel (5-7), Kali Hildebrand (5-7), Kristen Huebsch (6-0), Marissa Klinger (5-7), Ramerra Lacey (5-8), Olivia Meier (5-9), Kim Muench (5-10), Kassi Nunnikoven (5-9), Valerie Ross (5-6), Ashley Schleuter (5-6), Kate Schulz (5-7), Dominique Wright (5-6).

Juniors (10)

Grace Reinhart (5-7), Mariah Simmons (5-3), Courtney Straight (5-9), Stephanie Wenclawski (5-3), Takako Canno (5-1), Haley Corkery (5-7), Capria Davis (5-6), Kaylese Johnson (5-4), Latayshia Lacey (5-8), Aryn Nelson (5-6).

Sophomore (1)

Alexus Rogers (5-11).

SCHEDULE

Tuesday, Nov. 30 — Waterloo West, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 3 — Cedar Falls, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 4 — at Pleasant Valley, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 7 — at Dubuque Hempstead, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 10 — at Xavier, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 14 — at Dubuque Senior, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 17 — Iowa City High, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 21 — Washington, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 4 — Dubuque Wahlert, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 8 — Waukee, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 11 — at Waterloo East, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 14 — Jefferson, 6 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 21 — Linn-Mar, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 22 — Ames, 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 25 — at Prairie, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 28 — at Iowa City High, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 29 — at Decorah, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 4 — at Washington, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 8 — Iowa City West, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 11 — at Jefferson, 6 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 12 — Marion, 6:30 p.m.

Feb. 16, 19, 22 — Regionals

Feb. 28 — State, Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines