Summer basketball

Superior girls attend camp and battle Mullan

The girls in Superior who have been playing summer basketball have had a busy month during July. After celebrating the fourth back at the beginning of the month, the girls traveled to Washington for the Gonzaga Basketball Camp. The camp was held from July 5 through the 8.

"Camp was excellent," said Coach Jeff Schultz.

While at camp, the girls played nine full games. The only other team they played that was from Montana was Three Forks. The rest of the teams were from Washington, Oregon and Canada.

"We did really well," Schultz said. "We lost a couple more games than we wanted to. The girls were in every game, but we let a few get away from us toward the end of the tournament as we got tired."

Girls also participated in individual competitions focusing on skills including three-point shooting, free throws and the fastest dribbling. Schultz also got practice time with the girls while away at camp.

Following camp, the team was supposed to play a game against Valley Christian on July 15, but the game was cancelled as Valley didn't have enough players.

"They didn't have enough girls, which is understandable as you get toward the end of the summer, you have less players," Schultz explained.

Last week, the girls played Mullan at home on July 22. They played Mullan back in June beating the team 30 to 15. Last time, the girls used their speed to push past Mullan and Schultz said this time is was no different. On Thursday, the Superior girls beat Mullan again 57 to 13.

"The girls did a great job," Schultz said.

Schultz said that there were two main things that stuck out in his mind following the game, the first being the intensity of the girls defensive efforts.

"They were pushing, picking them up and trapping them in corners. They were talking extremely well and knew where everyone was on the court and they were intercepting passes," Schultz said.

The second thing that Schultz mentioned was that the girls were extremely unselfish. He said one girl would have a pretty open layup shot, but she would pass it to another girl who had an even better open shot.

"They did an excellent job," Schultz said. "It's about the team for them not scoring their own amount of points. They're willing to pass the ball and get it to the most open person. If you're not willing to share the ball then you end up taking shots that aren't the best shots for the team."

Schultz also said that girls were pushing the temp of the game as much as possible on Thursday.

Schultz said he is extremely excited for the season to come and believes that the girls are going to do very well.

"They're going to be competitive, they're going to be contenders," he said.

The team is playing at Thompson Falls next Saturday, July 31, where they'll face off against Thompson Falls, Troy and Clark Fork, Idaho.