“I told our kids, this has never happened before and it might never happen again, so we might as well enjoy it while we have the horses.”
So exulted Kirk Westervelt, head girls basketball coach at Big Park Community School, following the Coyotes’ victories over bigger schools — the Lobos of Cottonwood Middle School and Prescott’s Mile High Middle School Badger Pups — to capture the Verde Valley Girls Basketball Tournament championship Saturday, Jan. 25.
“We played five games in four hours, so it was taxing on the girls,” he said. “But we’re in great shape. We’re faster than almost all other teams. We got up and down the court and pressed most of the games.”
The tournament victory by a smaller school highlighted a full day of basketball at the tournament, which gave those teams’ “A” and “B” squads, along with those at Beaver Creek School, five games in just over seven hours of action Jan. 25.
“We had a boys tourney here in December,” Cottonwood Middle School athletic director Bill Sanderlin said. “But I’ve been here for three years and I’ve been trying to get this tournament started.”
While most of their opponents used the tournament as a tune-up for the Verde Valley Conference postseason tournament at Mayer High School on Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb. 1, the Lobos kicked off the competitive portion of their schedule at 9 a.m. Jan. 25, with a 34-8 victory over Beaver Creek School.
“I hope this gets the girls to play a lot, get some experience going into the league and just have fun,” Sanderlin said.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Jan. 29, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
