B-H CAGE SQUADS SET FOR OPENERS

    The Britton-Hecla boys and girls basketball teams will travel to Tiospa Zina to kick off their 2025-26 campaigns on Friday.
    The junior varsity girls contest is set to begin at 4 p.m., followed by the JV boys, varsity girls, and varsity boys.  On Monday the girls will host Northwestern for their home opener with junior high games beginning at 4 p.m., the JV contest at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity game.
    Britton-Hecla’s boys will host Webster Area for their home opener in a twin bill with the girls’ squad on Friday, Dec. 19.
B-H Girls
    Eight letterwinners and three starters return from last year’s 5-16 ballclub, but just four of those players are upperclassmen.  Coach Terry Nelson, beginning his 38th year as a head boys or girls basketball coach, stressed that his club will face a challenge every time it steps on the court but he feels his team has the potential to make some noise by the time the postseason rolls around.
    “Every game is going to be a challenge,” stressed Nelson, “and we need to learn from each one and just get better by the end of the year.  My hope is that by the end of the season people would describe our team as one that could upset anybody in the region if things go right.”
    Tagged as starters against Tiospa Zina are returning regulars senior Karli Zuehlke, and juniors Daynika Zuehlke and Maddi Micko.  Sophomores Koryn Jones and Chellon Pruitt will round out the first unit with senior Natalie Treeby and sophomores Paityn Erickson and Tiana Tank expected to see extended duty off the bench.          With the Lady Braves’ tallest player listed at just 5-10 Nelson know his club will have to rely on speed and quickness this season.
    “We have to get up and down the court, but with our numbers I don’t think we can go full bore over the whole court for the full game.  I think we do have to press and have been working on a 1-3-1 where we pick them up just over half court.  As time goes on we’ll see what works for us.”
    Nelson has been pleased with what he has seen during his team’s preseason practices.
    “We’re hustling, playing better defense, and our passing is way better.  We are also doing a good job of boxing out and rebounding, and we’ve been shooting better from the field and free throw line.”
    
B-H Boys
    The Braves will sport one of the biggest lineups they have had in years and fifth-year coach Troy Knecht thinks his club is poised to show improvement over last year’s 10-12 record.
    Eleven letterwinners, including three starters from last season, return to give the local cagers a strong foundation to build upon.  Letterwinners include seniors Jaxon Zuehlke, Will Richter, and Ben Folkman; juniors Graham Fosness, Mitchell Burger, Jace Rein, and Nate Schuller; and sophomores Lofton Heer, Chaz Vietor, Jack Teveldal, and Nathan Folkman.  Zuehlke and Fosness are two-year starters and Richter was a regular a year ago.  Vietor also saw some starting duty and Ben Folkman, Burger, and Teveldal saw significant minutes off the bench.
    Named as starters for the season opener are Richter at point guard, Ben Folkman at the other guard position, Zuehlke and Fosness at forwards and Vietor at center.  Key reserves are expected to be Burger, Nathan Folkman, and Teveldal, and Rein, Heer, and Schuller will round out the varsity roster.
    The Braves held an intrasquad scrimmage on Friday and Knecht was happy with what he saw.
    “I don’t know if we could have pulled it off in past years, being able to split up all the kinds in grades 9-12 and have a competitive game like we did,” said Knecht.  “It went a lot better than I expected and it felt good watching them play because I saw a lot of the things we have been teaching the last four years.”
    Knecht pointed to rebounding and taking care of the basketball as keys in the opener.
    “We want to win the rebounding and turnover battle.  It seems like if you do those two things you have a pretty good chance to win, and we’re really focused on our defense early in the season.”
    The Braves will sport good size to go along with some speed and quickness out front.  Vietor stands at 6-9, Zuehlke is 6-3, and Fosness is 6-1.  Richter at 6-0 will be a primary ballhander in the backcourt and Folkman also stands at 6-0 at the other guard.
    “Not only are we taller but the kids have gotten older and are more athletic,” Knecht noted.  “We always want to play fast to keep pressure on the defense but we also need to make sure and get the big guys involved a little bit more so the defense has to figure out a way to counter us inside and out.”
    The B-H boss also thinks his club is picking up where it left off a year ago.
    “I think this season is kind of an extension of what we did last year at the end of the season.  Last year we were still in build mode and I think now we’re more in kind of a refine mode when we can dial in on some of the fine points we haven’t been able to do before.”