Both Cody Basketball teams will hit the halfway points of their seasons, this weekend, as they take on a pair of 4A Northwest Quadrant foes. The Fillies are riding a seven game win streak, sit at 7-1 on the season, are 1-0 in conference play and are now the No. 4 ranked team in Wyoming, according to Wyopreps. One of the many reasons that the Fillies have gotten to this point is teamwork. This is a very unselfish group and Head Coach Chris Wagner says the camaraderie among this team is special.
“Like you talk about the leadership but there’s no division. The chemistry with this team is so strong, from senior down to freshman. They’re a tight group. They’re fun to work with.”
Friday night the Sweitzer gymnasium will be host to one of the biggest girls basketball games of the season, in Wyoming, as two top 5 teams go head-to-head. The Fillies, ranked No. 4 in 4A, play host to the second ranked Natrona County Fillies. Coach Wagner on what could be a championship preview.
“This is a game we need right now. We need to see that top team in our conference. I don’t want to kind of wait around. So I’m glad the timing of this, I’m glad we get them on Friday. They put a lot of pressure on you offensively. They get a lot of shots up, crash. Defensively, they throw some different looks at you. Kind of like we do. We do some full court pressure, drop in and do some trapping stuff in the half-court. It’s a tough test. We’re looking forward to it.”
Then on Saturday it’s a quick turnaround for the Fillies who travel to Rock Springs to face-off with one of the states best in Brenli Jenkins. I asked coach if that game has the makings of one of the best point guard match-ups we could see for the foreseeable future, featuring Kennedi Niemann and Brenli.
“Kind of getting ahead but yeah. I mean it was a good match-up last year. Kennedi went in as a freshman, I think held her to seven points in the first half at our place last year. They kind of got away with one. The other game was a different story down at their place. They kind of took it to us. Yeah, they’ll kind of develop that. They’re very familiar with her from volleyball and a couple more years with her in basketball. So it’ll be fun to watch that.”
As for the Cody Bronc basketball team, while this season has been a bit of a struggle the Broncs are starting to show flashes now that we’ve hit the halfway point. Right now for the Broncs it’s learning how to win and getting things on the floor to click more consistently. Head Coach Jake Kraft on slowing the game down.
“Patience needs to be pressed more on the offensive end. It seems like, we’ve said it a few times, we feel like we have a shot clock on our end and we don’t. We just need to make sure we make good decisions and make the other team guard a little bit longer in the possession.”
The Broncs have a pair of tough tests as they take on a Natrona County squad who’s new to the conference on Friday. On Saturday they travel to Rock Springs. Coach Kraft on those match-ups.
“We got to play them last year about this time of the year for the first time. Yeah, they’re balanced. They’ve got a few guys inside that pose a problem with the rebounding and a shooter, the Kelly kid, who can shoot the ball a little bit. I think we match-up pretty well against them. Then going on the road, of course the Martinez kid is a super athletic kid but I like our five better than their five on the floor and again, if we execute and we defend we’re going to be in both games.”
And for the Broncs to come away with a successful weekend, it’s pretty simple according to coach.
“Team defense, not losing shooters, being able to bring guys from the bench right on the floor and not miss a beat.”
It’s a weekend chalk full of High School Hoops. Friday Cody hosts Natrona County, Saturday they’re at Rock Springs. Friday’s action gets underway at 6pm with the girls up first and the boys to follow. Pre-game at 5:40. Saturday all the action is underway at 3pm with the girls first, boys to follow. Pre-game at 2:40pm. Catch all the action live on KODI.
You can listen to all games live here: https://radio.securenetsystems.net/cirrusencore/index.cfm?stationcallsign=KODI&playSessionID=AC233593-BD2B-9461-256D686BF8FBE1A1&embedOpened=true&embedOpenedApp=song&embedOpenedSong=%C2%A0&embedOpenedArtist=%C2%A0&embedOpenedAlbum=%C2%A0
ICYMI: You can re-live all the first half of the season’s action with photos and videos from several of the games and a chance to go back and listen to every game of the season up to this point. All that can be found here: https://kodiradio.com/photos-a-view-of-cody-basketball-halfway-through/
