Download - 2014 Winter Sports Tab
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 2Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
2014-2015
Park HighRANGERS
Dec. 5-6 Tournament @ BelgradeDec .12-13 Tournament @ Powell,
WY Dec. 16 Columbus Mixer AbsarokeeDec. 19-20 CMR Tourney @ Great
Falls Jan. 3 Tournament @ Absarokee Jan. 6 Home Mixer
Jan. 9-10 Tourney @ BozemanJan. 23-24 Class A Duals @ Belgrade Jan. 29 Fergus/Belgrade/Butte Central
@ LewistownJan. 30-31 Tournament @ BillingsFeb. 7 Divisionals @ HomeFeb. 13-14 State Billings @ Metra
WRESTLING
Dec. 6 vs West Yell.Dec. 12 @ Harlo (Tri-CityDec. 13 @ Harloton 3:00Dec. 19 @ Twin BridgesDec. 20 vs Shields ValleyJan. 3 @ WSSJan. 9 @ Lone PeakJan. 10 vs SheridanJan. 16 vs M. ChristianJan. 17 vs EnnisJan. 23 @ Shields ValleyJan. 24 vs Twin BridgesJan. 30 vs Lone PeakJan. 31 @ HarrisonFeb. 6 @ WhitehallFeb. 7 vs WSSFeb. 13 @ M. ChristianFeb. 14 @ EnnisFeb. 19-21 @ District M. ChristianFeb. 26-28 @ Divisional ButteMar. 5-7 @ G. State MissoulaMar. 12-14 @ B. State Billings
BOYS BASKETBALL GIRLS BASKETBALL BOYS & GIRLS BASKETBALL
GardinerBRUINS
*Home games listed in bold face
Shields ValleyREBELS
BOYS & GIRLS BASKETBALLDec. 12 Tournament @ CascadeDec. 13, 14 Tournament @ CascadeDec. 19, 14 vs. West YellowstoneDec. 20, 14 @ GardinerDec. 2, 15 @ Lone PeakJan. 3, 15 @ Twin BridgesJan. 9, 15 vs. TownsendJan. 10, 15 vs. Manhattan ChristianJan. 15, 15 vs. White Sulphur SpringsJan. 17, 15 vs. Harrison/Willow CreekJan. 23, 15 vs. GardinerJan. 24, 15 @ West YellowstoneJan. 29, 15 vs. Lone PeakJan. 31, 15 vs. SheridanFeb. 6, 15 @ TownsendFeb. 7, 15 vs. EnnisFeb. 13, 15 @ White Sulphur SpringsFeb. 14, 15 @ Harrison/Willow CreekFeb. 19-21 District @ Manhattan Cr.Feb. 25-28 Divisional @ HamiltonMar. 5-7 Girls State @ Missoula (UM)Mar. 1214 Boys State @ Billings (Metra)
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Dec. 12-13 @ Butte Central Dec. 19 vs. BrowningDec. 20 vs. HavreJan. 2 @ TownsendJan. 3 @ Three ForksJan. 9 @ Belgrade HighJan 10 vs. Butte CentralJan 16 @ Fergus High Jan. 17 vs. Big TimberJaN 23. @BROWNINGJan. 24 @ HavreJan 30 vs. TownsendJan. 31 vs. BeaverheadFeb. 5. @ Butte CentralFeb 6 vs. BelgradeFeb. 14 @Big TimberFeb. 19 vs. Fergus Feb 26 @ CM Russellfeb 27 @Cm Russellfeb. 28 @Cm RussellMar. 12.-13 @ Bozeman
Dec. 12-13 @ Butte Central Dec. 19 vs. BrowningDec. 20 vs. HavreJan. 2 @ TownsendJan. 3 @ Three ForksJan 9 vs BelgradeJan 10 @ Butte CentralJan 16 @FergusJan17 vs Big TimberJan 23 @ BrowningJan 24 @HavreJan 30 vs. TownsendJan 31 vs.BeaverheadFeb 5 vs. Butre CentralFeb 6 @ BelgradeFeb 14 @ Big TimberFeb 20 vs FergusFeb 26-28 @ CM RussellMar 5-7 @ Hamilton
Get into the spirit of winter sports and cheer on the area teams!
Dec 12-13 Imerys Tourn @ Three Forks Dec 15 @ Bozeman Dec 18 vs. Three ForksDec 19 @ TownsendJan 3 @ WhitehallJan 8 @ Joliet Jan10 vs. Jeffersonjan 16 vs Manhattan Christian
Jan 17 @ LivingstonJan 22 @ Three Forks Jan 23 vs TownsendJan 26 vs. BozemanJan 30 @ ColumbusJan 31 vs WhitehallFeb 3 vs JolietFeb 6 @ JeffersonFeb 12 vs Columbus Feb 13 @ ManhattanFeb 14 vs LivingstonFeb 19-21 District TournMar 5-7 Divisional TournMar 12-14 State Tourn
BOYS & GIRLS BASKETBALL
Big TimberHERDERS
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 3Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Rangers look for discipline
By Thomas Watson Enterprise Staff Writer
The Park High Ranger boys’ basketball team is coming off of a disappointing cam-paign a year ago, and the
team is trying to focus this year on the things it can control.
“We certainly want to work extremely hard on defense and be a strong defensive team,” said head coach Scott Rosberg. “We want to push the ball (on offense). But when we talk about identity in our program, we talk about our core covenants, the standards with which we want to live by.
“The boys came up with four of them this year. We want to be a team-first kind of team, we want to be a team known for its discipline, we want to compete with a relentless per-severance, and lastly we want to be a team that trusts. We want to have trust and respect for everyone involved in the program.
“I’ve gone away from goals and moved towards the standards. If we take care of (those four things), goals we set for ourselves will start to be accomplished.”
The Rangers return three players this year that have started. Joey Overstreet and Connor Amsk both started at times last year and Laden Ricketts was a second-team All-Conference member as a freshman before missing all of last year with
an injury.“We struggled all year with chemis-
try,” said Rosberg. “We struggled with dealing with adversity. I strug-gled, myself. I think I overloaded them. As our record got worse, I kept trying new things. So I did a poor job of handling it as well. We’re really excited about this year, though. We bring back five guys who played a lot of varsity minutes.”
In addition to the three returning starters, Sterling Lay and Jordan Leh-rer also return with some experience.
The Rangers plan to use an inside-out game, with Overstreet on the inside, surrounded by four guards/wings.
When Overstreet is not on the court, Rosberg wants the Rangers to run a five-out offense with five shooters spacing the floor.
“When Joey’s on the floor, a 6-11 kid is going to give you a post presence,” said Rosberg. “Laden’s probably our next biggest player, but Laden is more of a guard. He handles the ball; he shoots it. He’s more of a perimeter player.
“So when Joey isn’t on the floor, we’ll be a lot more five-man out. We’ll try to push the ball and run a little bit. We’ll also run a motion kind of offense with a lot of passing and screening with dribble drives and kicks.”
More of this year’s offense will be up to the players on the court after last year’s struggles.
Enterprise photo by Hunter D’Antuono
Park High Ranger Joey Overstreet goes over a defender to grab a rebound at Monday’s practice.
12-12,13 at Butte Tip-Off Tourney
12-19 Browning
12-20 Havre
1-2 at Townsend
1-3 at Three Forks
1-8 at Belgrade
1-10 Butte Central
1-16 at Fergus
1-17 Big Timber
1-23 at Browning
1-24 at Havre
1-30 Townsend
1-31 Dillon
2-5 at Butte Central
2-6 Belgrade
2-14 at Big Timber
2-19 Fergus (Senior Night)
2-26,26,28 at Division Tournament (Great Falls)
3-12,13,14 at State Tournament (Bozeman) (Home games in bold)
2014-15 Schedule
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 4Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
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By Thomas Watson Enterprise Staff Writer
Head coach Scott Coleman takes over the Park High Ranger girls’ basketball program this year, and he
inherits a very seasoned team.The Rangers return all five start-
ers from a team that last year did not feature a single senior.
Despite returning the entire team, Coleman said no starting jobs are guaranteed. He wants to create a competitive environment on the team.
The experience on this year’s Ranger team should be a huge asset.
“We have a very experienced group of seniors, so I think we have the opportunity to move the ball,” said Coleman. “We have sev-eral sets that we are working on (with) motions that keep every-thing flowing. We’ll see a group of seniors that I think will be able to take advantage of what they see before them in a defense and set each other up. I think there is a high basketball IQ and the ability to step outside of a completely pre-set offense that the coach man-dates that they run.”
Along with their motion on offense, the Rangers plan to play a lot of man-to-man defense.
“We are a man-to-man team, but
we will selectively utilize zone,” Coleman said. “We’ll utilize it to force the issue or change game momentum that is not going in our favor. We’ll utilize zone (defense) very strategically.”
In addition to an experienced team, Coleman hopes to have a very deep team.
“We have 11 on the varsity squad right now, and I see that rotation potentially going 11 deep,” he said. “Depth can make all the difference in the world. One of the challenges we may have is going up against speed that exceeds ours. In doing so, we’re really going to have to bring everything we have every moment on the court.
“I would anticipate a rotation that is vigorous throughout the game so that we can continue to apply pressure throughout the game, and we are going to need depth to do that.”
Coleman plans to use both zone and man-to-man presses on a selec-tive basis, but it will not be the team’s identity.
After a couple of down years for the Ranger girls’ basketball team, Coleman has his team focused on smaller goals.
“We are setting goals that are short of the won-loss column,” said Coleman. “Our goals are to bring the best performance we can as a team each time we step on the
floor and to do with the basketball what we set out to do, both on the offense and defensive side.
“We think that the win-loss col-umn will work out if we can do these things.”
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 5Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Rangers under new leadership
Enterprise photo by Hunter D’Antuono
Park High Ranger Brianne Pino is defended by Ella McKenzie during Mon-day’s practice.
12-12,13 at Butte Tip-Off Tourney
12-19 Browning
12-20 Havre
1-2 at Townsend
1-3 at Three Forks
1-9 Belgrade
1-10 at Butte Central
1-16 at Fergus
1-17 Big Timber
1-23 at Browning
1-24 at Havre
1-30 Townsend
1-31 at Dillon
2-5 Butte Central
2-6 at Belgrade
2-14 at Big Timber
2-20 Fergus (Senior Night)
2-26,26,28 at Division Tournament (Great Falls)
3-5,6,7 at State Tournament (Bozeman)(Home games in bold)
2014-15 Schedule
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 6Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
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RANGERS
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Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 7Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Ranger wrestling continues to build
By Thomas Watson Enterprise Staff Writer
The Park High Ranger wrestling team has 15 members out for this year’s team, and
even though their numbers might be small, the Rang-ers return four wrestlers who reached last year’s state tournament.
Of the Rangers’ 15 wres-tlers, head coach Jeremy Shields expects to have 10 to compete for varsity spots.
“We’ve got a few brand-new kids that just won’t be ready,” said Shields.
Peter Towns was division-al champion for the Rangers last year and returns again this year.
The Rangers also return Chris Swanson, Jordan Peri-no and Hayden Mushrush, and all three were All-Con-ference last year.
“We’re continuing to build,” said Shields. “We return four guys who went to state last year, and that is a big deal. We also have some young kids coming in who have some experience, which bodes well, because since we dropped the mid-
dle school wrestling pro-gram about 10 years ago, getting kids who come in with experience has been a struggle.”
One thing that might hurt the Rangers this year is that they have a large cluster of wrestlers who could wrestle the same weight class, and thus some will need to be shuffled around to different classes.
“We’re pretty stacked in the middle,” Shields said. “This weekend (Dec. 5 and 6) will be the first time we really take a look and see how that shakes down.”
Shields will judge success in the traditional ways, but he mostly cares about get-ting a good effort from his wrestlers.
“The one thing that I truly believe in, with anything in life, is that if these kids come out and give every-thing they have every time they walk on the mat, we are successful,” said Shields. “I hope to see that we have five, six, seven kids back at state this year, and I think we have some kids that have a legitimate shot at placing this year. But in general, if
you talk to the kids and ask them what the expectation is, it’s that they give every-thing they have every time out there.”
Along with goals such as effort and on-the-mat results, the Rangers have a very interesting objective for this season.
“One of our biggest goals is building the team,” said Shields. “We want guys to bring new people to come give the sport a chance.”
Enterprise photo by Hunter D’Antuono
Park High Ranger Deon Gillen, left, grapples with teammate Chris Swanson on Monday.
12-5,6 at Belgrade Tournament
12-12,13 at Powell, WY Tournament
12-16 at Columbus Mixer
12-19,20 at CMR Tournament (Great Falls)
1-3 at Columbus Tournament
1-6 Home Mixer vs. Columbus/Whitehall/Lone Peak
1-9,10 at Bozeman Tournament
1-23,24 at Class A Duals (Belgrade)
1-29 at Fergus/Belgrade/Butte Central (Lewistown)
1-30,31 Billings Tournament
2-7 Divisional Tournament (Livingston)
2-13,14 State Tournament (Billings)(Home meets in bold)
2014-15 Schedule
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 8Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Can’t get to all the
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Read All About It!
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Call the Enterprise circulation department at 222-2000 or the Pioneer’s circulation department at 932-5298
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Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 9Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
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Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 10WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
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Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 11Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
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Best of luck this Winter Sports Season
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 12Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Dribble it well.Keep the ball away from opposing players,
bring it down the court and score.
We wish all Park County athletes a safe and
successful 2014-2015 winter sports season!
ConvenienceStores
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GOOD LUCK BRUINS!
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 13Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Bruins build on prior season
By Thomas Watson Enterprise Staff Writer
T he Gardiner Bruin girls’ basketball team has three returning starters back from a team that finished
second at both the district and division tournament and made the state tournament for only the sec-ond time in school history.
“It was a good experience for the girls,” said head coach Ben Johnson of the team’s state-tournament run.
Hannah Dean, Tess Thomas and PJ Thomas are Gardiner’s returning starters. Kelsey McDonald, who was a part-time starter last season, will also be back.
Johnson feels this team has an advantage on both sides of the court the way his team can play with or without the basketball.
“Defensively, we’re going to get after teams,” said Johnson. “Our girls are very disciplined and can play great defense. If we can hold teams under 40, that will be our goal. We will shoot for that every game. Offensively, we’ll run up-tempo if we get going. If not, we have half-court sets. We do a lot of
motion to get kids on the move, and we like to get a lot of layups if we can.
“We’re probably pretty even on both (offense and defense), but we feel we need to stop them to score. So our first goal is to get a stop and get offense after that.”
Following last season’s success, the Bruins are hoping to do even better this year with the majority of their starters returning.
“We’re looking to win district this year and then divisionals,” said Johnson. “We really want to get back to state. We want to be one of the final eight teams playing, and we want to place. We feel like we have a great opportunity. We only lost 8-10 points per game in produc-tion from the seniors that graduat-ed. You lose some leadership, but we have plenty of girls who can step up.”
Johnson expects to have plenty of depth this year.
“The beauty of it is I can probably go eight or nine deep,” he said. “It’s quality enough that when we sub, we won’t drop off enough to let teams bounce back. They’re all going to play a big role.”
Enterprise photo by Hunter D’Antuono
Gardiner Bruin PJ Thomas drives the ball to the basket during a game against Lone Peak in Gardiner last season.
12-6 West Yellowstone
12-12 at Harlowton Tourney
12-13 at Harlowton Tourney
12-19 at Twin Bridges
12-20 Shields Valley
1-3 at White Sulphur Springs
1-9 at Lone Peak
1-10 Sheridan
1-16 Manhattan Christian
1-17 Ennis
1-23 at Shields Valley
1-24 Twin Bridges
1-30 Lone Peak
1-31 at Harrison
2-6 at Whitehall
2-7 White Sulphur Springs
2-13 at Manhattan Christian
2-14 at Ennis
2-19,20,21 District Tournament (Manhattan Christian)
2-26,27,28 Division Tournament (Butte)
3-5,6,7 State Tournament (Missoula)(Home games in bold)
2014-15 Schedule
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 14Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Thomas takes over for Bruins
By Thomas Watson Enterprise Staff Writer
The Gardiner Bruin boys’ basketball returns three starters from last season but will be breaking in a
new head coach in Wendy Thomas.Wyatt Wilkinson, Jordan Darr and
Eddie Rodarte return as starters. Rodarte was all-conference last season.
Those three will be joined by Ethan Powell, Mason Schram and Jarred Hurst as players who will have a big role on this year’s team.
The Bruins finished in the middle of the pack of the district standings last season but had a disappointing ending, losing both games at the district tournament.
As far as what that team will look like on the court, that has yet to be decided.
“It’s all new, so we’re just trying to put it all together right now,” said Thomas. “I’m new for them and they’re new for me. We’re going to try a little of everything until we find out what works. There will definitely be some man-to-man defense, and we’ll mix it up with some zone. Hopefully, we’ll run
some different presses. We’re just trying to figure it out right now.”
Thomas comes in with varsity experience. She coached the girls’ varsity team in the early 2000s. She has also been an assistant for the last few years on the girls’ varsity team in addition to coaching the junior high program at Gardiner for the last 17 years.
“I wasn’t hired until halfway through summer, so we didn’t have much of an offseason outside of open gyms,” said Thomas. “It’s all brand new from the first day of practice.”
Despite the whirlwind start to the season without the benefit of a summer program, Thomas is already seeing good things from her team.
“We have a lot of talent,” she said. “We need to be better disciplined, and we need to play better defense. I feel we have the ability to finish in the upper end of the conference. It’s definitely a goal of ours to get out of the district tournament. We have a lot of business to take of before then. But I’m excited and the boys are excited. They are showing up to practice and working hard.”
Gardiner Bruin Nick Sabo looks for an open teammate as he receives a pass during a game against Shields Valley last season.Enterprise file photo
12-6 West Yellowstone
12-12 at Harlowton Tourney
12-13 at Harlowton Tourney
12-19 at Twin Bridges
12-20 Shields Valley
1-3 at White Sulphur Springs
1-9 at Lone Peak
1-10 Sheridan
1-16 Manhattan Christian
1-17 Ennis
1-23 at Shields Valley
1-24 Twin Bridges
1-30 Lone Peak
1-31 at Harrison
2-6 at Whitehall
2-7 White Sulphur Springs
2-13 at Manhattan Christian
2-14 at Ennis
2-19,20,21 District Tournament (Manhattan Christian)
2-26,27,28 Division Tournament (Butte)
3-12,13,14 State Tournament (Billings)(Home games in bold)
2014-15 Schedule
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 15Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Enterprise file photo
Shields Valley’s Daniel Rivera grabs a rebound against Lone Peak junior Trevor House in the first half of a game in Clyde Park last season.
12-12, 13 at Cascade Tournament
12-19 West Yellowstone
12-20 at Gardiner
1-2 at Lone Peak
1-3 at Twin Bridges
1-9 Townsend
1-10 Manhattan Christian
1-15 White Sulphur Springs
1-17 Harrison/Willow Creek
1-23 Gardiner
1-24 at West Yellowstone
1-29 Lone Peak
1-31 Sheridan
2-6 at Townsend
2-7 Ennis
2-13 at White Sulphur Springs
2-14 at Harrison/Willow Creek
2-19,20,21 District Tournament (Manhattan Christian)
2-26,27,28 Division Tournament (Butte)
3-12,13,14 State Tournament (Billings)(Home games in bold)
2014-15 Schedule
Rebels ready for big season
By Thomas Watson Enterprise Staff Writer
As the Shields Valley Reb-els’ boys’ basketball coach, J.B. Boyd is entering his fourth sea-
son, and the Rebels have high hopes for the 2014-15 campaign.
The Rebels graduated an all-state player in Lane Lahaye, but otherwise they return the other four starters from a team that finished third in the district both in the regular season and the tournament.
“I’ve been playing a lot of kids,” said Boyd. “I believe in playing the talent, whether they are a freshman or a senior. So I always have young kids and try to contin-ue the program to be competitive. Age doesn’t mean a lot to me — talent does.”
Shields Valley will run a lot of man-to-man, but Boyd indicated that they would shake things up when the team needs a lift.
“Man-to-man is my favorite, but our tallest guy is about 6-2. So if we’re playing a bunch of big guys, we’ll obviously go into a zone to try and stop it with more than one guy on them.
“Offensively, we get up and down the court. We like to shoot
the ball. Our first offense is a layup. If that doesn’t work, we’ll pull it out and run (a set play). We’re high tempo and high inten-sity. We have quick guards. The whole team is quick.”
That high tempo will carry over to the defensive side, as well, with the Rangers using a full-court, man-to-man press when needed.
The expectations for this sea-son are high, mostly because of the talent Boyd has returning.
“We’ve got Thad Ferguson returning, who averaged right around 17 points per game last year and was first team all-con-ference,” said Boyd. “We’ve got Ryley Waddell, who is also a senior, and he can score from the inside and the outside. We have a junior, Tristen Jenkins, who may be one of the best offensive play-ers in the district. He’s smooth and can go right or left. He’s going to be really hard to stop.
“We’ve got a post returning who is about 6 foot in Clay Scidmore. He’s just a horse. He’s probably only 190 pounds, but he plays like he is 6-3. Half the season last year I started Brock Peterson, who was just a freshman. He’s only 5-7 but he is an absolute terror. He’s solid offensively and defensively.”
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 16Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
The Old P.O. Liquor StoreState Liquor Store
• Fine Wines • Local Artwork • Lending Library
106 E. Clark St. • Wilsall • 578-2094
• Tires, batteries and oil changes available.
• Fencing supplies.• Big Valley gates and wire
panels.GOOD LUCK
REBELSPark Farmer’s Co-opWilsall 578-2543
The Shields Valleybusinesses listed
here are proudto root for the
Shields Valley athletes.
BEST OF LUCK
DURING THE 2014
and 2015 SEASONCLYDE PARK
TAVERNClyde Park, MT
It’s Worth the Drive
Join your fellow Rebel Boosters and eat here before or after the game.
OPEN LATE ON GAME DAYS
You'll score with your taste buds
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Debbie Boyd Owner-Cosmetologist
OPEN Tues., Thurs. & Fri
- WIN REBELS, WIN -
Glenn’s shoPPinG
CenTer686-4421
The Berendts Family
Dale’s FuelClyde Park • 686-4681
Best of luck to the
reBels
We’d make the highest bid for the Rebel teams
because you’re the best!
From Chris & JimBo
"GRACIE"
Proud of the Rebels!Cindy & Jerry Good
P.O. Box 18Clyde Park, Montana 59018
406.686.4471
SHIELDS VALLEYHardware & Framing Inc.
We hope the round ball war-
riors have the
best
Complete Service for Your Car
or Truck
and
PROUDLY Serving Locally Raised Grass Fed Beef
Mon.-Sat. 11am - 9pmSunday 10am-4pm
Check it out!Check the articles in this
special section on the Shields Valley Rebel boys' and girls' basketball
teams for the complete schedule for the 2014-2015 winter sports season.
Don't miss the chance to root for the Rebels and have some genuine fun!
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 17Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Enterprise file photo
Shields Valley’s Rylee Hoyem looks for her shot in the paint against Lone Peak in the first quarter of a game in Clyde Park last season.
12-12, 13 at Cascade Tournament
12-19 West Yellowstone
12-20 at Gardiner
1-2 at Lone Peak
1-3 at Twin Bridges
1-9 Townsend
1-10 Manhattan Christian
1-15 White Sulphur Springs
1-17 Harrison/Willow Creek
1-23 Gardiner
1-24 at West Yellowstone
1-29 Lone Peak
1-31 Sheridan
2-6 at Townsend
2-7 Ennis
2-13 at White Sulphur Springs
2-14 at Harrison/Willow Creek
2-19,20,21 District Tournament (Manhattan Christian)
2-26,27,28 Division Tournament (Butte)
3-5,6,7 State Tournament (Missoula)
(Home games in bold)
2014-15 Schedule
By Thomas Watson Enterprise Staff Writer
The Shields Valley Rebel girls’ basketball team is coming off of a great season a year ago. Last
year’s Rebels finished third at district before winning the division tournament and mak-ing it to the third day at state.
The Rebels graduated only two seniors from that team, but will have everyone else back with state tournament experience.
“We don’t have a lot of height, but we have a lot of quickness, so we like to use our quickness,” said head coach Kristi Swandal. “Even though we don’t have a lot of height, we have a good post player in Rylee Hoyem. She’s our returning all-conference player. We do have a lot of speed, so we’ll try to use that to our advantage. We believe in defense and hope to play really strong defense every night.”
The Rebels hope to be able to hang their hat on that defense.
“You have to score more points than the other team to win, but a lot of our offense develops from our defensive pressure,” said Swandal. “We
know we have to have (good defense) to win games because there will be nights when the ball isn’t going in the hole very easy, but you can still play good defense.”
The success of last year’s team has given a good energy to the off-season and preseason prac-tices.
“The girls worked really hard during the summer,” Swandal said. “We’re all very excited. We don’t have any more expecta-tions of ourselves than we did last year. We try to play to our potential every night and play hard. (You have to) throw out what happened last year and just do the best we can in the moment every night.”
After such a good year, Swan-dal is not changing her approach to how she will evaluate the suc-cess of this year’s team.
“We don’t try to get too specif-ic,” said Swandal of the goals she sets for the team. “We want to work hard and play to our potential. We’ll have goals every night against teams, but we want to give our best effort every night regardless of who we play, and that will determine our suc-cess.”
Rebels poisedfor breakout
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 18Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Lose your copy of the 2014-2015
Winter Sports Preview?
You'll want to have your own copy because it has the winter sports schedule for every Park County prep sports team.The Winter Sports Preview is inserted in The Livingston Enterprise. Free copies are available at major retail outlets in Livingston for a limited time.
This publication is also on The Livingston Enterprise's website in its entirety:
www.livingstonenterprise.com
You won't have to wrestle this
one away from its owner.
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 19Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
DON'T BE GENTLE.
When it comes to supporting your favorite high school sports team, don't be too gentle in your enthusiasm.
Every athlete needs encouragement so don't
be too shy about showing up for the games, or the
matches, and yelling your lungs out.
Give 'em your all and they'll appreciate it.
Thursday, December 4, 2014 • e e e e 20Winter sports previeWe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
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