Big changes lead to promising start for Mount Si girls basketball team | Winter Sports Update

After losing every game in the last season, Mount Si’s girls basketball team got a huge shake up this year with an all-new coach. Bob Richey, previously the head coach of the Issaquah girls basketball team, has begun his season coaching Mount Si.

December 6, 2016 4:20 pm

Coach: Bob Richey

What’s new: After losing every game in the last season, Mount Si’s girls basketball team got a huge shake up this year with an all-new coach. Bob Richey, previously the head coach of the Issaquah girls basketball team, has begun his season coaching Mount Si.

This new dynamic and coaching style led the girls to win their first match of the season.

“The last two seasons they have been 0 and 16 in the league and to come out with a big win in their first game of the season was awesome,” he said. “They had a lot of fun and they all played super hard. We are off to a good start.”

Richey said the attitude around the team last year had become very negative. One of his main priorities was to create a positive culture.

“We are trying to change the whole culture,” he said. “They haven’t had much success in terms of wins and losses, the whole culture was negative. So we’ve spent the summer and fall trying to change that.”

The new team philosophy, devoting their efforts to group success and bringing good effort and attitude every day, have been crucial to the team’s improvement this season, Richey said.

Scout Turner, one of two captains of the team, said that this season has already eclipsed the last for her, because of their strong win against Kentwood on Wednesday, Nov. 30.

“Last year was frustrating for us and not very fun, but this year is already 100 times better, we are really looking up and looking forward to the future of the season,” she said. “Last year it was hard to look forward after losing every single game. We beat Kentwood, we scored 70 points which is 50 more than our average last year.”

Looking ahead: Working on communication and developing knowledge of the various options each player has at any given time have been some of the factors that led the team to their first victory of the season, Turner said.

“We had a lot of hard times on offense last year, we weren’t able to score a lot of points,” she said. “We’ve been working on having more options during games and knowing how to read the defense and trying to push the ball up the court more.”

Turner said the team is just taking each practice and game a day at a time, and focusing on what they can do to win their next match.

Captains: Seniors Scout Turner and Emma Smith.

Don’t Miss: Mount Si vs. Issaquah at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at Mount Si High School.

Varsity Girls Basketball Schedule

Wed, Nov 30, 7:30 p.m., vs. Kentwood at Home

Sat, Dec 3, 7 p.m., vs. Cedarcrest at Home

Wed, Dec 7, 7:15 p.m., vs. Issaquah at Home

Fri, Dec 9, 6:30 p.m., vs. Newport at Newport High School

Wed, Dec 14, 7:15 p.m., vs. Eastlake at Home

Fri, Dec 16, 6 p.m., vs. Bothell at Bothell High School

Wed, Dec 21, 7 p.m., vs. Juanita at Juantia High School

Wed, Jan 4, 7:15 p.m., vs. Skyline at Skyline High School