Patriot Basketball Plays Pre-Season Jamboree
Both the girls’ and boys’ Patriot basketball teams started off their season with preseason jamboree games against Wynot on Tuesday, November 27, in Clarkson at the Patriot Pavillion.
These are full varsity games, but they do not count toward either team’s season record. It is just a chance for teams to have a scrimmage against another team without it counting toward their real record.
There are 26 girls participating on the girls’ basketball team this year. They are led by 5 seniors: Kaegan Held, Hannah Kasik, Halee Steffensmeier, Beth Wiese, and Paige Moore.
The girls are coached by Matt Murren. They are assisted by Abby Sayers and Brian Becker.
The Lady Patriots came out strong and kept the lead against the Blue Devils. The game finished with a score of 39-24.
Senior Hannah Kasik said, “It felt great to be back on the basketball court again. The jamboree game is a great warm-up scrimmage to prepare us for the real challenge. As a team, we played aggressive defense, but we needed more of our shots to fall. Hopefully throughout the season that will improve. I’m super excited for what is to come for my team and me.”
Head Coach Matt Murren said, "It was fun to get back in the swing of things in some live action and get into a game to see some of the work we've been putting in. It was great to see what we could really do well and what we need to continue to improve. Wynot is a very scrappy team and defensively we held them to 24 points, so for us that was a giant positive."
The Patriot boys’ team has 19 boys participating this year. They are coached by Jeff Bachman and assisted by Andrew Faltys and Willie Hollatz. They have four seniors leading the pack: Daniel Beller, Travis Stanley, Raoul Heilmann, and Douglas Pocasangre.
The boys’ team couldn’t quite finish against the Blue Devils and lost with a final score of 44-47.
Sophomore Trevor Zulkoski said, “I thought it was a fun first game, even though it wasn’t on the record. I thought we did a lot of good thing and a lot of things that we need to improve on. We were able to work on everything, from man to zone to press.”
Head Coach Jeff Bachman said, "The jamboree game with Wynot was a great learning experience for us. It was great to get out on the court to start the year and we learned a lot about ourselves. We saw some of strengths and weaknesses on full display. I am looking forward to working to improve those weaknesses and grow into a stronger team."