Lady Bobcats improve on court
SUPERIOR – The Lady Bobcats recently passed their halfway mark in their summer league basketball season and have reaped in an ample amount of experience.
The team formed at the beginning of June and after one day of practice, jumped straight into a competition with a game landing on June 2.
“The big thing for us is how much we’ve improved since last season,” Head Coach Jeff Schultz said. “The girls work together so much better than last year.”
During their time on the court so far, the girls have become more fluid and have begun to perfect their passing.
Ten of the 13 girls are returning players, helping both offensively and defensively. The team also has a significant amount of length – something they are using to their advantage both defensively and with rebounds.
The summer proves to be a tough time to get everyone together and so far there has only been one game with a complete team. But the lack of bodies has not hindered their progress and has even been seen as a positive by Schultz.
It gives some of the less aggressive girls a chance to step up to the plate and help dictate the game.
The season is made up of Tuesday and Thursday night games, as well as three tournaments featuring multiple teams.
Currently the team has completed over 20 games and has between 15-20 still to go.
With a tournament already under their belts, the girls are ready to continue improving for the next two tournaments.
During their tournament in Ronan the girls showed promise.
Their next tournament will be in Gonzaga where approximately 60 teams will come together in friendly competition on the hardwood.
“The big reason we go to Gonzaga is we can see all these teams we’ve never seen,” Schultz said.
Teams come from Canada, Oregon, and Washington, among other states and provides the girls with a great opportunity to get out on the court with no expectations or preconceived notions on a team.
The team also gets experience playing larger schools and has played some AA schools.
“I think it’s a great time. A lot of times in games when someone has a name that’s famous or something, they get intimidated,” Schultz explained. “They play AA and A schools and they get less intimidated and realize we can take them.”
Schultz has been impressed with the girls’ performance. The girls have a 12-11 record.
The team played in Charlo on Tuesday, although scores were unavailable at the time of press. The play featured a round-robin style game with Ronan, Charlo and Arlee.
Schultz went into the game with good expectations and was ready for some good competition.
“Every one of those games will be down to the wire,” Schultz said.
His favorite part of summer league is the amount of practice the girls get and the amount of drive he sees from the ladies on the court.
With a strenuous schedule, the team gets worn out, but that is when their best comes out.
“They get tired and its fun to see them dig deep. It helps you during the regular season because they know they can dig deep and they know we’ve played worse before,” Schultz said.