Madison Girls JV basketball Season Recap
Madison JV Girls cheer at their game against Bonneville
The JV Girls Madison basketball team had their ups and downs, ending their season at 10-7. At the beginning of the season, varsity Head Coach Traci Petersen, moved Kayeli Wasden and Tianna Orr down from varsity to play with the JV team. Unfortunately, after the first game, Orr suffered a torn ACL and was out for the rest of the season. Wasden continued playing. with the JV team.
Petersen also moved Annalise Brunson, Rachel Hicks, and Macie Gordon up to practice, and eventually played, with the varsity team. The playing time was constantly being changed. Wasden played two quarters with JV and two quarters with varsity. Gordon, Hicks, and Brunson played three quarters with JV, saving one quarter for varsity. “It gave those three an opportunity to feel what it’s like to play on the varsity level,” said teammate Abegaille Lauritzen. “Even if it was only for a little time.”
Practice was far from easy for the JV team. With varsity practice during fifth hour, and JV practice starting after school, the three players would practice for two hours with varsity then come to practice with JV for another hour. Even though they were missing three important players, Head Coach Michael Stansel and Assistant Coach Madison Dick were able to keep practice running with eight girls.
After the fifth game of the season, Hicks got sick and was unable to practice or play. Since the varsity needed 12 people to practice, Madison Jensen started practicing with varsity. Even after Hicks was healthy enough to play, Jensen continued to practice with varsity. Now the JV had to start practice with seven people.
The JV team started their regular season off strong, winning four games in a row, but couldn’t pull through in their fifth game against the Highland Rams at Pocatello. They bounced back to win against Minico in their next game, only to lose to the Hillcrest Knights the next week. The JV team couldn’t seem to find a rhythm when it came to conference games, losing seven of the eight conference games.
You would think that after athletes come back from a long break, they would have a rocky start, but the JV had the best games of the season right after Christmas. The second half of the season was when they were at their peak. But, Petersen moved Wasden back to varsity, so she was no longer playing two quarters on JV. With the lack of a key player, some girls had to step it up. Samantha White fulfilled this call. She came off the bench and dominated the defensive side at their game against Century. After that game, she became a starter. “She came out of her shell in the second half, played good defense, and didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” said Stansel. Gordon was another key player. She was the leading rebounder, averaging 10.3 per game, and was 32.1% from the field. Her height and long arms helped her reach over the other posts.
After battling hard the rest of the season, Madison finished in the fourth seed in their district tournament. They played their first district game against Shelley but lost 44-39. During that game, the Bobcats suffered 44 turnovers, 38 of them were in the first half alone. “It was the worst game of basketball I’ve ever seen,” Stansel said. The JV team was not expecting the end their season that way.
Next season, most of the JV players will be on varsity, maybe even starting. Even though it is rumored that a couple girls are quitting, we expect a lot from the future varsity team and the upcoming JV team.
