With only one senior on the entire roster and at least three-fifths of the starting spots being occupied by a freshman or sophomore, Sedona Red Rock High School’s girls basketball team is one that will be largely in place for next year and beyond. The boys team, on the other hand, is more senior heavy. So, much of the success that the team will enjoy beyond this year will depend on the boys currently on the junior varsity team.
The JV boys defeated Scottsdale Prep 52-41 on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Freshman Benji Cook led his team with 24 points while fellow freshman Carlos Gonzalez had 10 points and three rebounds. Sophomore Max Metzger and freshman Isaac Montes de Oca each scored five, with the latter also pulling in six rebounds. Sophomore Kale Emerson scored seven points with four rebounds, while freshman Joan Diaz Rodriquez scored four points but hauled in 21 boards.
While that’s the only game that the Scorpions have gotten to play thus far, the journey for them to get to this point started months ago.
“We’ve been practicing since last year,” Montes de Oca said. “We practiced throughout the summer and into this season. In the first game, it felt much better to play against other opponents, rather than just our own team, plus the [varsity] girls and the boys.”
The scrimmages against the varsity boys have been particularly helpful. The start of the winter sports season was delayed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That gave the JV boys a chance to scrimmage against the varsity team roughly once a week for a period of six weeks. So, while the delays and the brief cancellation of the entire season created some hassles, JV coach Jon Cook also noted that getting the opportunity to play against the older team was also a blessing.
“The varsity team is going to be a competitive team in our division — I’m sure of that,” coach Cook said. “The whole thing with the JV was getting them to compete. And they did. At times it was close. That’s all we can ask for. And I think the varsity boys were surprised with their skill level and how well they play as a team.”
“They were a lot bigger and stronger — it helped us a lot in that sense,” Metzger added. “Getting the strong rebounds, the basics like fundamentals. It helps you out with that because you realize they’re a lot bigger so you have to get a body on them. It helped all of us get more experience with better teams.”
Getting practice against bigger opponents is particularly helpful, as the Scorpions will be a smaller team than most opponents on the schedule.
One of the necessities of being a smaller team is shooting well from the outside. The Scorpions did that in the first game of the season, with Cook alone hitting five three-pointers.
“If we’re undersized down low, we can just shoot threes and trade twos with our threes to keep us in the game,” Benji Cook said. “Even if we’re undersized. Because we’re not the biggest team. Being able to hit threes is our biggest strength because it keeps us in games.”
During tryouts, coach Cook and varsity coach/SRRHS athletic director Pedro Ortega Sr. felt that it would be best to keep the core of the junior varsity team playing together, rather than potentially breaking them up by bringing a few up to the varsity level.
While that is the case at the beginning of the year, some JV players might end up spending some time on the varsity team if an injury to one of those players leaves a spot on the roster. Coach Cook hopes to prepare his team for that possibility.
Beyond that, he hopes that the familiarity of playing with each other will continue to pay dividends in games.
“I want them to be competitive,” coach Cook said. “I want them to adjust to the high school level maturity well. Execute offensive plays and various defenses. Be able to press break. Teamwork, fundamentals and competition. And I feel like if we do all of those things that we’ll be competitive. We’ll be successful.
