On Nov. 18, the NT varsity girls basketball team will host their first game of the season against Stevenson High School as the first round in their annual Thanksgiving tournament. 

But the sideline at this year’s home-opener looks a little different, as tenured head coach Terry Rodgers will no longer be calling the shots. With her retirement, Athletics Coordinator and last year’s freshman head coach, Stephanie Kuzmanic will now step into the shoes Rodgers left behind. 

Kuzmanic is no stranger to the game. She played college basketball at Carthage College, where her accomplishments led to her being inducted into the Carthage College Hall of Fame in 2020. She then went on to coach seven years of high school and two years of college ball before arriving at NT.

“[Kuzmanic] brings a lot of experience,” senior forward Grace Bowie said. “She’s been in lots of different positions that give her different experiences that you wouldn’t have gotten if you only were with one team. I think that she has a lot of prior knowledge that she can bring to the team this year that maybe we haven’t had in the past.”

Kuzmanic wants to build on the success of Rodger’s tenure, but also change the system that the team has previously run for years.

“I want it to be a very system-based style of basketball,” Kuzmanic said. “[A system] where there’s a lot of freedom to make decisions, but also structure. [The team has] done really well so far implementing it.”

This system-based style Kuzmanic is implementing focuses on emphasizing each player’s best abilities.

“We have a lot of versatile players, so we’re going to try to utilize that versatility,” Kuzmanic said. “We have a lot of players that can play outside the perimeter and inside in the post. We’re going to try to utilize an offense that highlights everybody’s skill sets.”

Kuzmanic and the returners have also made it one of their goals to grow greater connections between all levels of the program.

“We want to make the program more unified among the three levels,” senior guard Avery Schecter said. “Last year it was pretty segregated between varsity, JV and freshmen, so I think this year we’re trying to put a really big emphasis on trying to get all levels on the same page, which has helped us connect with everyone.”

Within the program’s growth as a whole, Kuzmanic hopes to get people more involved in women’s basketball..

“This is a time where women’s basketball is really thriving,” Kuzmanic said. “The WNBA is becoming more popular and a lot of women’s college players are making a lot of money in the NIL, and I think that’s exciting. I’m trying to piggyback off that to get people excited about playing basketball and getting the New Trier community involved.”

As for on-court performance, the team is looking to take home a regional championship after losing to Glenbrook South High School by six points in February of the 2024-2025 season.

“Winning a regional is a big goal for us,” Kuzmanic said. “Especially with having a lot of newcomers on the team, this first year, we want to focus a lot on improving and being the best we can be as a team. Not comparing ourselves to other teams that are returning all five starters or… to whoever won conference last year. Trying to come together as a team and seeing where it takes us.”