Both Castlegar’s senior girls and boys high school basketball teams are off to a slow start this season.
The Stanley Humphries Secondary School (SHSS) senior girls and boys basketball teams both faced off against their counterparts from Mount Sentinel Secondary School at their home gym on Wednesday night, and both ended their games in defeat.
The girls lost 87-35, while the boys, also known as the Rockers, lost in a four-point game.
Coaches of both teams report that so far this season the teams have been improving, but both are made up of mostly younger players, who are still learning. There are no Grade 12 players on the girls team and only three Grade 12 players on the boys.
“We’re a very young team, and I [think] that everyone is improving as we go,” said Kim Matson, coach for the SHSS senior girls team. “Right now, we don’t have any Grade 12s on the team, and so it can be challenging playing against more experienced teams, but we worked hard, we didn’t give up and we got better as we went.”
“We are off to a slow start so far this season, but have shown good signs of improvement,” said Mike Lynn, coach for the Rockers. “We have a young team; we have an inexperienced team.”
Matson said that so far this season the girls team’s strength is the players’ attitude. “We don’t give up, we keep working hard,” she said. But the team needs to continue to work on defence over the remainder of the season. “Tonight our inexperience showed and it showed on defence,” Matson said following Wednesday night’s game.
Though things didn’t go the team’s way, Matson wanted to acknowledge the efforts of Linsey Schuepfer and Jamie Horning. Schuepfer for playing “one of her best games to date leading the offense” and for earning nine points. Horning for “her hustle plays on the fast break and on defense.”
The Rockers, meanwhile, need more work on their defence, compete level and commitment, according to Lynn. “Our execution and our effort are not consistent,” he said. “We’ve shown some really good signs throughout the year so far, but we also have some bad habits that we have a tough time breaking out of.”
The girls have played five games for the season and are 0-5. Their next game is in Grand Forks on Tuesday. The Rockers have played eight games and are 3-5 for the season. Their next game is against Grand Forks on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the SHSS gym.
The girls’ next tournament is at Mount Sentinel the weekend of Jan. 21, and the Rockers will play a tournament in Cranbrook on Jan. 27 and 28, and a tournament in Winfield on Feb. 3 and 4. The Rockers’ home tournament is Feb. 10 and 11.