Mary Westervelt had 17 points, while fellow eighth-grader Morgan Fritz added 12 as Big Park Community School continued its undefeated drive through the Verde Valley Conference with a 35-10 win Tuesday, Dec. 8, over Oak Creek School.

“We’re playing at a good level, but our fundamentals need to improve,” said Kirk Westervelt, Coyotes head coach. “Too many turnovers. [We’re] giving up second shots by not blocking out on defense.

“We’re far off from elite state level, but we’ll get there by the end of [the] season.”

Eighth-grader Jacki King also had six points in the win over the Roadrunners. She was coming off a 13-rebound performance Monday, Dec. 7, as the Coyotes defeated second-place Camp Verde Middle School, 36-21.

While Westervelt had 10 assists against the Cowboys, Fritz was the leading scorer of that game with 21 points.
Kirk Westervelt credited his A team’s continued success not only to “great defense” against “scrappy” teams, but also to the Big Park home crowd.

“It means a lot to the girls when the bleachers are filled,” he said. “They play harder.”

After losing a 16-14 “heartbreaker” to CVMS, Westervelt’s B team recovered for a 19-15 win over Beaver Creek.

A win Thursday, Dec. 10, at Clarkdale-Jerome School would make Westervelt’s A team perfect through seven games heading into the Clarkdale Christmas tournament. Both the Coyotes girls and head coach Andy Galley’s boys A team will be participating in the two-day tournament, which begins at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 11. Their schedule:

Dec. 11
■ 2 p.m. — Cottonwood Middle School B girls vs. Coyotes
■ 4 p.m. — Coyotes boys vs. Beaver Creek-Mountain View winner
■ 6 p.m. — Clarkdale A boys vs. Big Park-Cottonwood B winner

Dec. 12
■ 9 and 11 a.m. — Consolation bracket girls games
■ 10 a.m. and noon — Consolation bracket boys games
■ 1 p.m. — Girls third-place game
■ 2 p.m. — Boys third-place game
■ 3 p.m. — Girls championship
■ 4 p.m. — Boys championship