Both basketball teams were 11-0 after last week’s victory over Ouray. The boys won 70-33, and the girls went 54-9.
Head coach for the girls Stan Galley said in an interview on Jan. 19 that the game the following day, Jan. 20, would be the toughest the girls will have all year. They had to travel to play Platuea Valley, in the Collbran area. Galley admitted Plateau Valley is a good team, and as of press time their record was 8-2.
To get ready for that game, the girls have been reviewing things during practices. The game against Ouray, sadly, wasn’t much preparation, however, Galley said. Ouray was short team members, and the combined Mustangs weren’t challenged so much. Coach thought many of their players were on a field trip with the science teacher; only five Ouray girls were able to participate and play Nucla.
Still, the girls did what they could on the court to get in the right mindset.
“And we work on things we need to work on in practice,” Galley said.
He added the Mustangs, made up of girls from both Norwood and Nucla, have such a “deep bench” that many of the girls on the bench are better than girls starting for other teams.
Morale remains high, and sickness has stayed away since the holidays, thankfully.
“For the most part, everybody is pretty healthy,” Galley said.
If any of the girls were nervous over the weekend, or Monday, they didn’t express it. And, putting too much pressure on them is something coach doesn’t want to do.
“Like, we don’t want to say this is a ‘must-win,’” he said. “We’ve just got to go play our kind of basketball, and we will be alright.”
Because the Forum prints the weekly edition on Tuesday afternoon, scores against Plateau Valley were not ready as of press time.
“We will know more after this week how tough a team we are,” Galley said.
He appreciates the community support. The home game last week was very well attended, and he said it’s always fun for the kids to have that many spectators in the bleachers.
On Thursday, Jan. 22, basketball teams head to DeBeque.
Streamlined, the guys basketball teams are on the same schedule.
Head coach for the guys Mike Rummel said the boys were very excited for the game against Plateau Valley.
“I think the boys know that it is our game to have,” he said. “We have just got to go in with a mindset that we cannot get out-hustled. We will have to minimize our turnovers and be aggressive with our defense and rebounding. It is tough to play good teams on their home court. It’s always a different style of officiating over there too, so we have to play to the limits that the officials are allowing.”
Rummel said the guys lost a close one to them this summer in Gunnison at basketball camp, but they didn’t have Cole Bray, the key defensive player with them then.
“I think if our shooters are on, and we just keep playing like we have been we will be OK,” he said. “We are currently ranked third in the state in 1A boys basketball, and the boys are very excited about that, and I think they are willing to work hard to keep themselves in that position or even keep climbing up the rankings.”
He said it was big.
Regarding DeBeque, he said unfortunately for them, they lost their key 6’-6” post player for possibly the rest of the season.
“We have had some great games against them in the years past, and our boys were upset that they weren’t going to be full-strength when we play them,” he said. “We can’t overlook them. They are on their home court and anything can happen. You hate to see anyone go down for a season, and especially someone like him that is a senior and has put in so much work over the years.”
Overall, Rummel is looking forward to a fun week.
As far as high school wrestling goes, the wrestlers are holding their own. Brandie McCabe helped her husband, who is head coach for the guys wrestling team. She took her daughter Kynnlie McCabe to a tournament in Eagle, called the Queens of the Mountain, where she placed third in her bracket.
Rob McCabe helped his guys, and there at Fight at the Fork in Hotchkiss, Jackson McCabe took third in his bracket, and Jace Bonacquista took fifth in his.
Both basketball and wrestling are far from over, and fans are encouraged to check West End Public School’s website for the sports calendar and to come out and support their Mustangs on the court and on the mat.
