Britton-Hecla will unveil this year’s versions of its boys and girls basketball teams on Friday when Tiospa Zina comes to town for the season openers.
Junior varsity games will get underway at 5 p.m. with the girls varsity and boys varsity contests to follow. The local cagers will also be in action on Monday at Northwestern with the JV girls starting at 4 p.m. followed by the JV boys, varsity girls, and varsity boys.
Girls Need To Fill Spots
Coach Terry Nelson lost three starters to graduation and also suffered a loss when senior and last year’s top scorer Sterling Brassfield went down with an ACL injury during the volleyball season. She will miss the entire basketball campaign.
The good news is that there are eight other letterwinners that should help to fill those holes. Senior Heather Storbakken is the only returning starter, but seniors RaeAnn Hagenson and Mallory Grupe, junior Karlie Zuehlke, sophomores Daynika Zuehlke and Maddi Micko, and freshmen Koryn Jones and Chellon Pruitt head the roster of 12 high school girls.
“I think we could see nine girls getting a lot of playing time, and that’s a nice problem,” said Nelson. “These girls have played in varsity games and have playing experience. We just need to put the ball in the hole.”
Shooting has been an issue for the Lady Braves but Nelson felt the squad showed progress while attending camps this summer.
“This summer the girls did a better job of taking the 12-15-foot shots. We need to shoot 35% from the field this year. Last season we shot about 31% from the field, but every time we won a game we were over 35%. A key for us is to just develop more confidence in our shooting.”
Nelson named his starters for the opener. Grupe will hold down the post position, Daynika Zuehlke will be at point guard, and Storbakken, Hagenson, and Karlie Zuehlke will be the wing positions.
The Lady Braves will face some stiff competition right out of the chute. Both Tiospa Zina and Northwestern feature a couple of standout players and both clubs feature good quickness. Nelson pointed at Northwestern as the cream of the crop in Region 1B so the contest should be a good measuring stick for the B-H crew.
Boys Have Reasons For Optimism
With three starters, nine letterwinners, and good size in the lineup returning from last season, the Braves have plenty of reasons for optimism heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
“We’re not going to be the smallest team on the court anymore,” noted Knecht. “Most nights we should match up pretty well with our size and length. I think we can also potentially go 10 deep which allows us to go hard and spell the starters, giving us a boost by having players come off the bench with some energy The kids are also a year older and a year stronger and developing into better athletes. They’ve put the work in and hopefully it will pay off.”
Senior Daniel Person, junior Jaxon Zuehlke, and sophomore Graham Fosness are the returning starters from last year’s 4-17 unit. Rounding out the group of letterwinners are senior Jordyn McGregor, juniors Will Richter and Ben Folkman, and sophomores Mitchell Burger Nate Schuller, and freshman Chaz Vietor.
Vietor at 6-6, Zuehlke at a solid 6-2, and Fosness at 5-11, and 215 pounds should give the Braves a solid inside presence.
“You will see more high-low action than we’ve ever done in our halfcourt offense because we have the personnel to do it now,” Knecht said. “But we won’t be afraid to push the ball, even with our bigger bodies. The challenge is when to speed up and when to slow down. The pace of the game is hard to manage sometimes.”
Knecht knows his club will have to do a better job of shooting the basketball to be successful.
“We need to shoot better. Shooting has always been our Achilles’ heel. We need to shot 35-40% as most good teams do, and if we can get a higher percentage shot by turning defense into transition layups it may also spur us to have more confidence in our outside shooting. I think we will be better, but it takes time to settle into that game speed and get some confidence.”
Knecht declined to name a starting lineup with just a week of practice under their belts, but he likes what he has seen in preseason practices.
“I don’t worry about this group not competing and really think that will be a strong point for us,” concluded the Braves’ boss. “We can control the effort and attitude, and if we do that the rest will work out.”
