After a successful fall sports season for the Skiers, fans are entering the winter season with high expectations. Following the conclusion of the holiday break, the boys and girls basketball teams are set to return to the Big Gym with revamped rosters and more exciting action.
So far, both teams have played three true away games, and the boys team has participated in two tournaments and hosted their first couple of home games.
After graduating 12 seniors, the boys basketball team is full of new faces. However, junior captain Jack Berro believes that the transition will be smooth.
“Well, fortunately we had a large junior class [last year], which are now the seniors this year. Cory was actually talking about it in practice just yesterday. He said that these guys got to play every single day against those seniors and they were really good players. So naturally they picked up on some of the skill and experience that those seniors from the past year had. So to be honest, our team’s not too different,” Berro said.
According to Berro, the team’s chemistry will also contribute to success during their season.
“I would say that because we live in Aspen, if you play a sport, those guys end up becoming your best friends because there’s only one league to play in in Aspen. So the camaraderie is always good on every team. But for this one specifically, we play very much as a unit and not so solo,” Berro said.
The Skiers have started off their season strong, winning six games while only losing three. They have impressed at each of their tournaments, going 2-1 at their first tournament and 3-0 at their second. They also boast an impressive home win against Peak to Peak. The boys have high hopes for the rest of the season, with eyes set on the playoffs.
“I feel really good about the first couple games we’ve had. I don’t know what it is now, but it should be one of the top three hardest strength schedules in all of 4A. So that means we’ve played pretty much the best schedule we can, and we’re six and three,” Berro said. “We’ve beat a couple very good teams. We won a tournament. So I expect, you know, nothing less than at least an 18-win season and a home playoff game at the end of the year,”
The boys will continue their campaign in Rifle on 1/9, and will return to the big gym on 1/16 for a contest against the Steamboat Springs sailors.
“We are so excited to play against Steamboat. We hope to win the conference again. This would be the fourth time out of five years, and we really are excited to show you guys what we can do,” Berro said.
So far, the girls basketball team has only played three games, all of them away. The girls have worked hard in each of their battles, but unfortunately have suffered losses in all three. Entering the new year, the girls hope to work on their game and turn things around.
“It’s just the small things that we need to improve on, our passes and we need to not play down to the teams and their level and I think that that’s part of the reason we’ve been losing,” said junior player Greyson Miller.
Similar to the boys team, the girls also graduated seven seniors, meaning that the team dynamic looks different this year. According to Miller, the loss of the seniors took a toll on the team at first.
“This year we lost like seven seniors, and so we lost a lot of skill. But I think that as the season has gone on, we’ve all started to connect more and create more chemistry with all the new players,” Miller said.
The girls will continue their season on Friday, 1/09, at home against the Olathe High School Pirates. According to Miller, the team is fired up going into their home opener.
“We’re super excited for the game on Friday. We are going to go into it with a positive mindset just like go out and do our best and play how we know we can play,” Miller said.
