Eagles starting to gel as a team, building confidence

SEELEY LAKE – When the Seeley Lake Elementary Eagles swept the court against Granite Feb. 17, Head Coach Brett Haines said the girls are starting to play together. After adding four girls to the seventh and eighth grade A team from Swan Valley School at the end of January, they haven't played as a team for very long.

Haines said they have at least six more games this season. He looks forward to the team continuing to gel, learning how to be more aggressive and building their confidence. Copper League tournaments are canceled.

The Eagles have 16 girls out for the team this year, nine on the A Team and seven on the fifth and sixth grade B Team.

A Team

Haines said the A team has had a lot of ups and downs this season. Early in the season when they played Granite they lost by 15. At the home game Feb. 17 they won by more than 30 points.

"It was a different team," Haines said. He explained that the Swan Valley girls weren't with them for the first game. While they have been a great addition, the girls are still working on learning how to play together as a team and had a tough loss to Charlo Feb. 13 because of it.

Haines said the girls have been focusing on the fundamentals - dribbling, passing and shooting.

"All of our skills we just need to keep improving on," Haines said.

While some of the girls have good skills, Haines said they are working on building their confidence to square up and take the shot or fake and go for the dribble, drive.

"It is just building that confidence level that they know that they can do it and then do it," Haines said. "We are just trying to get over being timid."

Haines said the five eighth graders are really working hard for him this year.

Haines said eighth grader Amaiya Dalrymple has been giving 100% this year. All of the aspects of her game are improving "and we are really happy with that. She has been one of our strong players leading the team."

At the home game against Granite, even though Dalrymple was nursing an ankle injury, she pulled down a few rebounds and scored five points while playing less than five minutes of the game.

Eighth grader Alison Kilpatrick continues to improve with her shooting. Haines said they are working with her on squaring up to the hoop and building her confidence in taking the shot.

Swan Valley eighth grader Aubrey Matthew is leading the team this year as the point guard. She shares this position with Swan Valley seventh grader Lilly Boyd. Haines said she is a solid, all-around player and functions as the core of the team.

Eighth grader Bailey Bartlett filled in as point guard as well. Haines said she is playing good defense and her offense continues to improve.

Swan Valley eighth grader Rilyn Richardson sunk both of her free throws against Granite. Haines said she has a great shot. Haines looks forward to continuing to build her confidence the rest of the season.

"We've got some great kids and we are just trying to work on each of their skill level to get better and better," Haines said. "I've got a good group of girls and I'm really excited to be coaching this team."

At the Feb. 17 A Game against Granite, Boyd and Matthew scored in the double digits adding 15 and 14 to the 29-point win for the Eagles. Also scoring: Bartlett, 6; Dalrymple, 5; Darby Gleason, 4; Kilty Hanson, 2 and Richardson, 2.

B Team

The Eagles B Team has seven girls this year. Assistant Coach Brad Miller said it has been fun to coach the B Team again this season. They have been doing a lot of work on fundamentals.

"I kind of like it because it has been easy to get everyone in the game and they are used to playing with the same group," said Miller.

Miller said he enjoys the dynamics this year. They play together as a team, share the ball well and everyone gets an opportunity to shoot in the game.

"It is more fun to watch rather than one girl going out and playing hero ball," Miller said.

Miller said the biggest challenge this year has been trying to learn from wins. While they have lost three games this season, two to Charlo and one to Condon, many of their wins have been with a point spread of at least 30 points.

"Even when we are winning and we are playing our best, I need to find stuff to work on and improve on," Miller said.

Another challenge has been making sure the girls are having fun and they aren't too hard on themselves.

"I've had to get on a few of them and say it doesn't matter how good you are playing on any given night," Miller said. "You've just got to shrug it off, move on to the next play and be ready to go."

Miller expects them to be a very competitive team in the future.

"I'm glad I get to coach this awesome group of girls," Miller said. "They are super coachable, they have awesome team chemistry, they all love playing together and they all love playing."

In the B Game against Granite Feb. 17 Ryan Pitman led the Eagles scoring 14 points. Mylee Corcoran also made double digits with 11 points. Also scoring: Rylee Cahoon, 6, Jezzy Palmer, 2 and Isis Snow, 2.