Heading into its two-week holiday break, Big Park Community School’s competition has become less Verde Valley Conference foes and more boys versus girls.
Certainly that has become the case for head girls coach Kirk Westervelt’s 9-0 A team, which saw even his youngest daughter, Helen, a sixth-grader, contribute to an easy 46-10 victory Tuesday, Dec. 15, over West Sedona School.
The boys, at 4-6, have some more work to do in 2016 to catch up to Verde Valley Conference leader Clarkdale-Jerome School. But four players were enough to win at West Sedona, 50-24.
Girls Basketball
Westervelt, one of three players who rotated playing time at the wing, played up with the A team after scoring 15 points to lead the Coyotes B team to a 6-1 record with a 25-10 win over the Wildcats.
“I feel like a taskmaster,” Kirk Westervelt said. “It’s hard to keep kids motivated when they win so much.”
Helen Westervelt’s older sister Mary shared high-scoring honors for the A team against the Wildcats with Morgan Fritz. Each eighth-grader had 13 points, with Fritz getting most of hers off 10 rebounds.
“Morgan’s a stretch four who really can shoot the three,” Westervelt said of his power forward. “We’re pretty unselfish: When they double[-team], Mary gets it to Morgan.”
Both girls combine to average 33 points per game. Mary Westervelt also had 10 assists and five steals.
“Mary’d be playing at the high school right now,” he said. “She’s as tall as most centers on other teams. She can go inside or outside off the dribble.
“The only way we’re going to lose is if there’s an injury or someone fouls out, because our point guard is unstoppable.”
Beyond his daughter Mary, Kirk Westervelt said all of his A team played great defense.
“Have defense, will travel,” he said. “You shoot better at home, but you can win on the road as long as you can defend. When the kids are focused on the task at hand defensively, I think they can be in any game.”
Eighth-grade starter Grace Hafner had 12 rebounds and eight points against the Wildcats. New starter Jacki King, who shares Helen Westervelt’s first love of soccer, added six points and five steals.
It is King who is taking the Coyotes to the next level, making them perhaps the best team Kirk Westervelt believes he has ever coached.
“This one has more offensive punch,” Westervelt said. “She’s an athlete. For what she’s done, for never playing basketball ever in her life before this year, there’s no one faster than her in the league. We’ve just got to get her skills up.”
As Westervelt hopes to prove February in the Four Corners tournament in Chinle after winning his fifth straight Verde Valley Conference title.
Boys Basketball
“I’m still waiting for the team to come together and play a complete game. I think it was just one of those games when the shots went in.”
That was the prevailing sentiment from Coyotes head coach Andy Galley, who still got enough offense and defensive fundamentals to win by 26.
“It was a back and forth, kind of up-and-down kind of game,” he said. “Both teams played with heart and hustle. I might even give it to them for outrebounding us.
“As a coach, I think that I was the most proud of how we’ve just been improving fundamentally. We stress fundamentals.”
Even if Galley is still waiting on team chemistry to help the skills of his eighth-graders shine through. Individually, Jackson Coughlin is the team’s leading scorer, with Michael Lagorio high scorer Dec. 15.
“We typically have a different leading scorer every game,” Galley said. “We set our goals to be the best team we can be, come the end-of-year tournament.”
The Coyotes are not a big team, but are quick, with a high energy, as exemplified in eighth-grader Christian Bohme.
“He’s always hustling,” Galley said. “He’s a very intelligent player and his motor’s always going. He does a nice job of playing both inside and outside.”
Galley’s seventh-grade starter, Carlos Parra, also plays with a high energy level, Galley said.
“His head’s always up,” Galley said. “He sees the floor really well.”
Together, the four Coyotes created Wildcats turnovers all night, hitting easy layups out of them.
For more photos and information on a Big Park girls basketball clinic, please see the Friday, Dec. 18, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
