Middle school boys basketball update

The Thermopolis Middle School Basketball season has reached the half way point, and the payers are gaining some great ball skills.

The 7th grade Coach Jessica Benefiel stated “We have some really fast kids, as well as some great rebounders, which has allowed us to capitalize on a run-and-gun style against some of the smaller schools.”

The 7th grade team started the season with only seven players but was able to gain two more as the season progressed. Even though they have had limited numbers, the boys have been able to put on some great games together.

Currently the team has been working hard on getting more shots out of their set offense in order to keep up with the more competitive opponents like Worland, Powell and Cody. “We’d like to implement some press-breakers and an additional play or two to handle the zone defenses we’ve seen once or twice, in order to be more prepared for the tournament.” Coach Benefiel explained.

Coach Benefiel expressed that while moving past the half way point in the season she hopes the team will continue to improve as they head towards their conference tournament in December.

The 8th grade team has been holding their own, faced with learning a new system that was different from what they ran last year. The team has been able to gain some wins against some quality teams, and giving the bigger schools a run for their money.

The 8th grade Coach Steth Daniels had this to say “Throughout the season we come into each practice week ready to make adjustments based on our game-play and I think each week we have put together improvements that show at the end of the day.”

Expressing that everything that the team has worked on over the last several weeks will come together and enable them to play some great basketball Coach Daniels wants the team to be ready to face the bigger schools at conference and make a good run in the tournament.

“This group of 8th graders had a lot of success as 7th graders last year and I was excited to get the chance to coach them,” said Coach Daniels.