High school basketball fans have likely noticed that the Lady Mustangs are having a good run this year. Coached by Stan Galley, of Nucla, the ladies are 7-2. The Forum caught up with Galley after the weekend to recap the girls’ games.
He said the girls beat Telluride, 61-15, but then fell to Dove Creek afterward, 54-31. He agreed Dove Creek is a fierce team and has been good for several years.
Galley is assisted this year by Cortney (Lemon) Wilkerson and Lothan Snyder.
The Lady Mustangs are a combined team, with Norwood girls traveling down to join Nucla girls. There are 17 out this year.
On the roster are seniors Viviana Zunich, Kendra McCluer and Cadence Shaw; juniors Darcy Bray, Khloe Shepard and Louie Jacobs; sophomores Lantry Galley, Holli Johnson, Reece Elwood, Shay Snyder, Brylea Butler, Maggie Andrews, Maria Camacho, Sydney Tomlinson and Charlie Mull; plus freshman Peyton Nasland, Savannah Norris and Ayva Davis.
Managing are sophomores Ani Anton and Berlynn Tomlinson.
Galley did coach many of the players in the their younger years, as early as when they were in fourth grade and on up through middle school. He agreed they all get along together pretty well.
He also agreed they can score, and on any given night it’s common to have four or five of the girls scoring in double digits.
“That’s pretty good for a small school team,” Galley said.
He did say that defense was lacking against the Dove Creek team over the weekend, and that the shooting percentage was “way low.” The girls were 8 for 43 in shooting for 2; he couldn’t recall the ratio for 3-pointers in the interview.
The girls are now on winter break, and league play starts when school resumes. Galley said Dove Creek will be the biggest challenge in the future. He said Mancos is down in numbers this year, since some girls left. Dolores has a fairly young team. Coach isn’t exactly sure about Ridgway, but they’ve been a decent team the last year or so, and he expects them to be competitive.
“Dove Creek is definitely our main obstacle for winning the league championship,” he said.
The Colorado High School Activities Association has done away with the district tournaments. Galley said it was to make things more like the NCAA. To qualify for the regional tournament, teams have to have been in the Top 32 in the state for 1A basketball, though winning the league means a berth to regionals.
The Top 8 teams get to host.
The Lady Mustangs practice four to five times a week, depending on their game schedule. They’ve been at it since November and will go until the beginning or middle of March.
“I think there’s a lot of potential there they don’t realize themselves that they have,” Galley said. “If we can get them to believe in themselves and each other, I think they can do some pretty good things.”
He agreed he’s proud of the beginning of the season. He hopes the girls realize how good they can be.
After the break, the Lady Mustangs have a home game, Jan. 9, versus Ridgway.
The middle school girls basketball team also started up just before winter break. Head coach this year for the Mustangs is Brandon Herland, and he’s assisted by Misty Galley.