Manitou Springs High School girls basketball team is hoping to use this season to build on their skills and experience as a whole team. Tryouts for the season begin on Nov. 13 and the first game is at home on Nov. 29.
McKesson Rhodes(12) has been playing basketball since she was a kid and swung varsity her freshman year. “ I kind of move around a lot, position wise. I’m mostly a guard though, so I just run around a lot,” Rhodes said.
Cassidy Blechman(12) is ready for her senior season and is wanting to take on a bigger leadership role than she has in the past. “There are other seniors that have more of a leadership role than I do. I haven’t really been a leader in the past especially for basketball,” Blechman said. “But I could fill in as a leader or captain this year.”
Head coach Juliana Argyle wants the team to focus on building their skills and experience after losing seven seniors from the 2022-2023 season. “With the loss of seven seniors, we are looking for our returning juniors and seniors to step up and for our underclassmen to rise to the challenge,” Argyle said.
Although the team lost seven players last season they are expecting to have about 20 athletes at tryouts starting on Nov. 13- 17. “We had seven seniors graduate last year and so we will have a great opportunity for anyone to take the challenge and step into a bigger role. We are expecting to have around 20 to 24 athletes competing this year,” Argyle said. “We have 4 returning seniors who have grown a ton over their three years and we’ll be looking to their experience and strengths to lead us this year.”
Kate Johnson(12) and Liz Johnson(12) are currently injured and will not be able to play for the beginning of the season due to recovering from their ACL tears from the 2022-2023 basketball season. “I feel like we’re not going to start off as strong without Kate and Liz, but I think that’ll give the team more time to build and develop some of the younger players,” Rhodes said.
In the past the team hasn’t had many JV to varsity swingers, but due to the loss of players from the last season Blechman thinks there will be more this season. “We’ll probably have a few swingers from JV just to fill in while Kate and Liz are recovering and then they’ll be back at it again,” Blechman said.
Argyle encourages anyone who is on the fence about playing to come to tryouts. “You are only in high school once, so why not? Our coaching staff is about building a space where everybody can come, learn and contribute,” Argyle said. “Our motto continues to be SALT: Sisterhood, Accountability, Loyalty and Toughness.”
Anya Nelsestuen • Jan 10, 2024 at 2:00 pm
I appreciate how, in this article, the author had multiple interviews with players. I also really like how the author incorporated multiple athletes who weren’t interviewed. It really helped to make the article feel well rounded and informative. The article feels informative for both athletes, with the included tryout information, and nonathletes with the focus on how the season looks.