Raw talent more accustomed to rubber mats than a rubber ball refined its way to a respectable season on the hardwood in junior high boys’ basketball at Big Sandy.
First-year coach Katie Nicholson led a team loaded with athleticism that finished just shy of .500 ball despite little experience in the game.
With Little Guy wrestling postponed until after the New Year, the hoops team took shape in the form of a lot of wrestlers keeping in shape for that sport.
“This is just a group of kids who are just really good athletes,:” Nicholson said. “Our season was a little up and down … it was hard to know when we were going to have games.”
Nicholson played competitive basketball from age 5 through her prep years at Great Falls High School. She guided a group that adjusted well to the court.
“Quinn Rodewald … played really good defense and he was really easy to coach,” she said, noting his eagerness to.self-motivate and up his game. “For 10 minutes after practice, that’s all he would do is just shooting.”
Wesley Cox manned the point guard position most of the season “even though he had never played a lick of basketball,” Nicholson said. “Whatever sport he plays, he will survive and strive.”
Though his aggressive defense got him into foul trouble, the coach said he was able to channel that force into an asset as he learned the rhythm of the game.
While the Pioneers could not defend a league championship from a year ago, they matched up ably against some tall challenges.
“Chinook obviously is always coached well and was a tough team for us,” Nicholson said, adding that Turner, with a 6-3 seventh-grader, 6-foot sixth grader and another player at 6-1 “presented some challenges for us height-wise.”
The Pioneers played even with Winifred, splitting the season series with a 2-point loss at home and a 2-point victory across the river.
Eighth graders Sonny Phillips, Severin Heimbigner, Chris Torres, Darrell Sunchild and Ryder Galbavy will move up to the high school ranks in short order.
Sunchild healed up from a high ankle sprain sustained against Chinook and Galbavy “I’m excited to watch here as he gets older … he is very gifted, very soft hands and can read a defense very well,” Nicholson said.
Sixth grader Ian Sherburn “became (someone) I could really depend on,” she added, as the season progressed.
While the COVID-19 situation played havoc on the team’s schedule and did not allow for a year-end tournament, Nicholson said there is some discussion and hope a seventh/eighth grade spring season may be realized if the pandemic is better contained by then.
