Rhett Simanton, Co-head coach of the boys’ basketball, said he was “Excited for the season to begin again and hoped to compete hard this season and continue to get better every day.” Fourteen boys are out for the BB program this year. Lane Demontiney is the only senior.
Ryne LaBuda, the other head coach, said, “I’m excited about this group of guys because while we lost a lot of talent and experience from the group we had last year, we have a talented group of young boys with great attitudes and work hard. We kept a couple of guys that played meaningful minutes last year, and they’ve really stepped into that leadership role for us. It should be a fun season!”
Travis Baumann, head coach for the girl’s basketball team, said, “I expect to be a competitive team this year bringing back three starters from last year, and then we get Laney Terry, the lone senior, back from injury last year. There is only one senior on the team, but we have six Juniors, two Sophomores, and two freshmen. Five 8th graders will be brought up to help with JV games.
He thinks Fort Benton will be the team to beat because they gained the emergency Co-Op with Highwood this year. Chinook moved to Class B so that we will be playing Centerfield in our Region.”
“We’ll see how the season plays out, barring injuries like last year.” He believes the 9C will be evenly matched, so there should be fun and exciting games to watch. Travis said, “I’m really excited, really excited for the season. It’s the first time I can remember there not being a purely dominant number one team in the 9C right that just is head and shoulders above anybody.” In the last two years, it’s been Fort Benton, State Champs, and last year, Box Elder. It’s pretty wide open this year. Everybody will have a shot.”
The girls believe they can win. They’ve moved up over the years from eighth to 4th. “Hopefully, we will keep trending up.” The girls believe they are divisional-bound this year, as do the coaches,--but most importantly, the girls believe it!
