The Bridger girls basketball team is probably one of the few teams that was thankful for a little break between basketball and volleyball. The Scouts needed to recharge after winning the State C volleyball title, and the time off allowed them to do so.
As was the case on the volleyball court, there’s tremendous chemistry between the girls.
“This is a unique group. I’ve been doing this for 26, 27 years now and kids have changed and parents have changed," Bridger girls basketball head coach Matt Kleinsasser said. "It’s about me, me, me and stats and the scholarship. This group, they play together in the summer and it’s about the we, not the me. They’re not going and playing in individual AAU tournaments by themselves, they’re playing as a group, as a team, as a community.”
This year’s team is replacing its starting point guard after Serena Oyler graduated. It could be more of a committee than a single individual.
“This group, we’ve got a couple sophomores, couple girls that are going to step in there and have to play. Cassidy (Schwend) and Dylan (Pospisil). We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be trial by error right off the bat, so we’ll see how it goes," said Kleinsasser.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of girls that just help out in general. I’ll help a little bit. We all just play different roles and see where everyone works best,” senior guard Kyra Kroll said.
The group of Bridger seniors has a chance to put another notch in its belt as one of the winningest classes in program history.
“In the last three years we’ve played in two challenge games to go to state and last year we played in the semifinals of divisionals. They know how to win. Hopefully that carries over from volleyball to basketball," Kleinsasser said.
“We really want to try and keep working hard, because we know you have to work hard to be able to accomplish what you want," Kroll said. "They just want us to try our best because it’s our last year. They just want what is best for us and for us to finally be able to get what we’ve been working for these last four years as a group."
The Scouts are 2-1 early on this season and will host Plenty Coups on Friday night.
