Senior Peck to lead Valkyries at point guard

The Valkyries basketball program has a

lot going for it this year: a returning coach on his fourth year

with the team, the biggest roster lineup the girls have had in

recent memory and one of the most solid summers of preparation

behind them.

Head coach Mark Hansen will be leading

the girls this season along with returning assistant coaches Jim

Epperly, who is coaching the junior varsity, and Trisha Smith, who

is running the freshman team.

“It’s always nice when you get those

kids you’ve had all four years,” Hansen said. “Especially with what

I call my top three — Taylor, McKinze and Mel. Taylor has been

playing varsity since she was a freshman and the other two have

been suiting up for varsity pretty much since the beginning.

Strong start

Hansen’s team consists of 24 players;

nine of who are freshman and four are seniors. Senior Taylor Peck

will be running the team on the floor at point guard in the

beginning, but Hansen plans to move her around to give her

sufficient shooting opportunities. Fellow seniors McKinze Shults

and Melissa VanDerveer will share the job when Peck isn’t in

it.

“All three of those girls are pretty

versatile,” Hansen said. “That’s one of the things I’m really happy

with is that we really moved those girls around a lot when they

were younger and got them used to playing a lot of different

positions.”

A tall order

In recent years the Vals have been

known for their quickness rather than their heighth. However, that

ratio is changing a little this season.

“We went from being really guard heavy

to being really forward heavy,” Hansen said.

The Vals will be looking for consistent

contributions from sophomore Tessa Robertson and junior Shelby

Scoggins underneath the basket.

“Our strength should be our

rebounding,” Hansen said. “I have a lot of girls that are good at

going after the boards. That and defense are going to be our

strengths.”

Filling in the gaps

The Vals are a prime example of using

hard work and dedication to make up for what they lack in other

areas. Over the summer he commented that he had more girls at open

gyms than he has consistently had in the past few years.

“We are not as athletic as we were last

year, but I think basketball IQ-wise we’re as good as we’ve been

since I’ve been here. They really have the ins and outs of the game

down.”

Tough spots

That of course doesn’t mean that they

aren’t without weaknesses.

“We’re a little challenged at getting

the ball in the hole,” Hansen said.

Game on

The Valkyries varsity team starts its

season this weekend with the Northwest/Southwest Tip-off

Tournament. The Bigfork girls play against Stevensville at 4 p.m.

Friday at Whitefish High School. On Saturday, the Vals play Ronan

at 5 p.m. at Columbia Falls High School.

“I have a first team All-conference

(Peck) and a second team All-conference (VanDerveer) player and

that’s as much as any of the other teams in our district have

returning,” Hansen said. “I’m going to have to count on some

juniors to step up. They’re going to have to find their niche. I

have three starters returning. They’re going to be a different team

though. They aren’t going to speed down the court and press as

much. They’re going to have to be more methodical.”