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Belt girls basketball 'has a lot of potential' with young core, no seniors on team

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GREAT FALLS — The Belt Huskies girls basketball team is off to a 3-1 start, including wins Dec. 20 and 21 against Centerville (69-16) and Hobson-Moore (62-21), respectively.

One thing about the group is it consists of a young core, with no seniors on the roster. The two oldest players are juniors McKenzie Pogany and Aaliyah Gaylord.

"I just hope that we're able to find our roles because we're such a young team," Pogany said following the win over Centerville. "We're still trying to develop into the team that we're going to be able to be once we're older."

"Overall I hope we can work to reach our potential with this team," Gaylord said. "Which is really nice we get a whole, extra year together. But I think this team has a lot of potential that we can reach."

Not only did Pogany and Gaylord go from being under to upperclassmen, both became the most tenured on the team. They said they want to work on becoming good leaders this season.

"Aaliyah and I knew stepping up that we had a big role coming this year," Pogany said. "I think we really took it in over summer basketball, and we really just went with it. And I think our teammates are doing a good job of stepping up."

"Going out there and working our hardest will always influence the others to do the same," Gaylord said. "And embracing our role as a leader, and then encouraging the other girls to step up and do their best as well."

The two have been playing together for a long time, as they said, and that has helped mold them in to leaders.

"We know that we had to step up this year, and our coach has been preparing us to step up throughout the years," Pogany said. "I think it really helps that we have our teammates to support us, and we know that they're for us."

"We're really close on and off the court, so we know each other really well and we know how to play with each other," Gaylord said. "It's really great."

Of course, the team will lose no players after season's end, which Pogany and Gaylord said excites the Huskies.

"It's really exciting to know that Aaliyah and I have another year with this team because this team is very fun to play with," Pogany said. "And this year is just going to prepare us for next year and make us better I feel like."

"It's amazing, I'm so glad that we have (another) year with the exact same team," Gaylord said. "And it's going to be great."

Belt next hits the hardwood Jan. 3 against Great Falls Central.