The Britton-Hecla boys and girls basketball teams will open their 2023-24 campaigns with games at Tiospa Zina on Friday and will host Northwestern for their home openers on Monday.
The junior varsity girls will play at 4 p.m. at Agency Village with the JV boys, varsity girls, and varsity boys to follow. On Monday both the JV boys and girls games will tip off at 5 p.m., the girls varsity contest will begin about 6:30 p.m., followed by the varsity boys.
B-H Girls
With eight returning letterwinners and four starters back the Lady Braves under secondyear coach Terry Nelson are looking to improve upon last year’s 5-16 mark.
“The girls are passing better, shooting better, making more free throws, and just have more energy on the court in preseason practices,” said Nelson. “Our strength should be that we’ve been out there and played before, and the girls now know what I expect out of them.”
Regulars returning this season include seniors Tiyanna Schott and Addison Wade and juniors Sterling Brassfield and Jayden Bender. Rounding out the group of letterwinners back are juniors RaeAnn Hagenson, Heather Storbakken, and Mallory Grupe, and sophomore Karlie Zuehlke.
Nelson said that Schott will start at a post spot in the Friday opener with Brassfield, Wade, Bender, and Storbakken at guard positions. Hagenson, Grupe, and Zuehlke will also be expected to see extensive action.
“The key for us in our early games is to make some shots to get out confidence up, play good defense, and box out,” stressed Nelson. “Tiospa Zina graduated their 6-4 girl and their top guard transferred to Sisseton, so I’m not sure what to expect from them, but Northwestern has just about all their girls back and this should be a good year for them.”
B-H Boys
With seven seniors gone via graduation the Braves will have to fill some spots, but third-year coach Troy Knecht thinks one of his club’s strong points this season will be its youth.
“I think that our youth is a strong point because it allows us to learn on the job,” said Knecht. “These guys have been with us for a couple of years and I think we can get everybody on the same page and hopefully win a few more games.”
Three starters return from last year’s 3-18 squad. Seniors Ty Fagerland and Dawson Treeby both saw some starting duty a year ago, as did sophomore Jaxon Zuehlke. Juniors Daniel Person and Isaiah Jackson round out the group of returning letterwinners.
Knecht said that Treeby and Fagerland will start at the guard spots for the opener, while Jordyn McGregor and Person will be at the forwards and Zuehlke at the center slot. Rounding out the 10-man varsity unit are junior Isaiah Jackson, sophomores Will Richter and Ben Folkman, and freshmen Graham Fosness and Mitchell Burger.
“A win would be nice in our opening games, but we’re looking to see how these kids with a little less experience handle things and what our defensive intensity is like,” noted Knecht. “I’m also looking to see how we handle the flow of the game with the ups and downs. That’s all part of the learning process. Both teams this week will also probably pressure us full court. Last year we had 30 turnovers in our first game and we just can’t do that.”
Knecht thinks his charges are on the right track to becoming a more competitive team this season.
“We were in some games last year that we should have won, and we just need to find a way to win those games,” noted Knecht. “If we could go .500 this season I think it would be a great year for us. I always tell the kids that we want to be the team at the end of the year that nobody wants to play, and that is our goal to get ourselves into that position.
“I’m ready to take the next step as a coach to be a more competitive program, and I think the kids are ready for that, too,” concluded the Braves’ boss. “I believe the buy-in is there.”
