By Bobby Narang –
West Aurora High School girls basketball is welcoming another new head coach for next season.
Almost two years since legendary West Aurora boys basketball coach Gordie Kerkman stepped down following 39 seasons at the school, the girls basketball program is welcoming a new varsity head coach.
Connie Siljendahl decided to follow in Kerkman’s footsteps and announced her retirement after 13 seasons. Terera Waldinger was named the new girls coach April 13.
Waldinger is no stranger to West Aurora. She had served as the sophomore coach for the last 14 seasons. A former basketball player at Bureau Valley High School in Manlius and North Central College, in Naperville, Waldinger had a good knowledge of most of the players in the entire program.
In Siljendahl’s final season, the Blackhawks won 19 games to equal the most victories for a single season in her tenure. Her teams won 19 games twice previously. The Blackhawks won 13 games each in 2007-2008 and 2013-2014.
The Blackhawks lost to Oswego East in their Class 4A regional semifinal in 2017-2018. Siljendahl’s 2005-2006 team won a regional championship.
“This is exciting,” Waldinger said. “It’s been a long time for me to be coaching on the lower levels, so I’m really excited to take the reigns. The kids have been coming through our feeder program since fourth grade, so I’ve seen a lot of these kids going through the program….We had a great team last year and we expect to build on that.”
The Blackhawks will have to find some extra scoring following the loss of senior guard Kyanna Rogers, but junior guard Dajour Miles is set to return next season.
