The combined Nucla-Norwood middle school girls basketball team is on a winning streak with a 6-0 record. The “A” team beat two Montrose teams Saturday, 41-4 and 37-8. Head coach Stan Galley said with 10 eighth graders, the A team is strong.
On the court are Reese Elwood, Shay Snyder, Maria Camacho, Holli Johnson, Maggie Andrews, Josey Tedder, Lantry Galley, Sidney Westfall, Sydney Tomlinson and Brylea Butler.
They girls have beaten Ouray twice, Telluride, Dolores and the two Montrose middle schools. They were scheduled to play Mancos last week, but that was cancelled due to weather, and the game was rescheduled for Jan. 31.
Official practice stared Dec. 10 before winter break, and practices happen Monday through Thursday after school for the girls. But the girls’ experience goes further back. They’ve been playing together for the last five years, since they were in the fourth grade. Many of them have travelled to summer basketball camps in Grand Junction to work on skills together, too.
Galley said the girls play well as a team.
“They’re a pretty unselfish bunch of girls, as far as who scores,” he said. “One of the things we’ve tried to instill in them is to be an unselfish team.”
He said several of the girls can play in any spot on the court, in the wing and down in the post. Galley added the game has evolved in such a way that there is not technically a “center” anymore, and teammates spread out a little more these days.
“Our girls move the ball around pretty well on offense,” he said. “And they play good man-to-man defense.”
And, the Mustangs do have some height to their advantage. A few of the girls are 5’7” to 5’8”.
The middle school teams don’t play a certain class, like 1A or 2A, but play the teams in the area league. There is not a district, regional or state tournament for middle school, but there is an end-of-the-season tournament, with the Top 4 teams in the league playing against teach other. That happens Feb. 18, and the school with the best record hosts that event.
The sports co-op program that both schools just approved will not happen next year, but the following year. In this way, the eighth grade A team will have a sports co-op for their sophomore year. Still, both Nucla and Norwood have combined the last three years for basketball anyway and likely will next year.
Galley, a school board member, has said he’s in favor of the co-op. He said one of the upsides to it is that both schools get their sports back. He said Nucla will get football on their field, and Norwood will get basketball in their gym. That’s because the rules say the kids can practice in either facility. Currently, they must only practice in the combined host’s facility.
“In my opinion, that brings more community support when you have it in both towns,” he said, “more attendance anyway.”
Galley is assisted on the court by his wife, Misty Galley.
Besides the coaching and serving on the school board, he’s also on the Colorado Cooperative Company (ditch) board, as well as the Fruita Co-op’s board and the local Cattlemen’s Association board.
