The 2022-23 high-school basketball team is off and running for Bow Valley High School's senior squads.
The Cochrane-based school's senior basketball teams each began their 2022-23 Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) schedules on the right foot last week, with the Bobcats senior boys and girls both beating the Chestermere Lakers in their season-openers on Dec. 6.
Bow Valley's senior boys won 67-54 on the road, while the Bobcats' senior girls triumphed by a similar margin on their home court, winning 60-46.
“Ton of energy – it was the first game of the season and the girls, as scattered as the game was, played really hard,” said Darryl Viste, who is entering his second season as the Bobcats senior girls' head coach.
After their victory over the Lakers, the Bobcats followed up by playing at the Cochrane High Classic tournament this past weekend, finishing runners-up to the host Cobras. According to Viste, Bow Valley opened their tournament schedule with wins over Chinook High School from Lethbridge and Mary Mother Margaret from Edmonton, before falling to their local rivals Cochrane in the tournament's gold-medal game.
“We won the first two and then the last game was against Cochrane High in the final,” he said. “The first game went well, the second was a struggle. It was just about trying to work out bugs.”
Bow Valley's regular season will continue Dec. 13 against the Springbank Phoenix, who were defeated handily in their season-opener by the W.H. Croxford Cavaliers on Dec. 6. The Bobcats will play their last game before a two-week Christmas break on Dec. 20, when they travel to Airdrie to face the Bert Church Chargers.
While it's always hard to tell this early into the season how the standings will look come February, Viste said early indications are that W.H. Croxford – last year's RVSA banner champion – will be a tough nut to crack, as will Cochrane.
“I know from the RVSA website, Croxford is looking pretty strong,” he said. “They play with presence and some great experience and poise, so I imagine they might be the ones to beat again.”
This year's Bobcats roster has a healthy mix of returning seniors and Grade 11s who are keen to make the step up from last year's junior varsity team, according to Viste.
“We’ve got a great group coming back,” he said. “We had all 11s last year, and I think there are seven who are back from last year. We’ve added five Grade 11s. We need to keep that continuity going each year, so those five will see playing time to further their development for next year, too.”
Senior boys
As for Bow Valley's senior boys' basketball team, their Dec. 6 win over the Lakers was preceded by two preseason tournament appearances, at Bearspaw Christian Academy and at a tournament in Canmore.
Head coach Kris Neilson acknowledged it was hard to gauge his team based on the seven shortened games Bow Valley played at those tournaments, as the Bobcats were missing more than half of their roster due to illness or injury. As a result, he said the team had to call up five junior-varsity players to help make up the numbers.
“We haven’t had a full line-up we’ve been able to put on the floor, except for the last game when we had just about a full line-up,” he said. “We had a few guys with minute restrictions on for our Chestermere game. That gave us an idea of what we’re going to be like, but it’s been kind of tough this year when you have a couple of JV guys playing with you for the tournament.
“It’s good for the young guys to get that experience and it will help us out going forward, but I don’t think it’s telling us a whole lot yet about how we’re going to look overall this year.”
Regardless of their depleted roster, Neilson said playing the two tournaments was good preparation for the regular season-opener last week, and that a 14-point victory over Chestermere – a perennially strong team in the RVSA – was cause for cautious optimism.
“I think [Chestermere] will probably be pretty strong this year, too,” he predicted. “I think if we have a healthy squad and can have everybody playing, we’ll have a really good team that competes for a championship, for sure.”
The RVSA's high-school basketball games are typically held on Wednesday evenings, with jump ball at 7:45 p.m. For schedules and scores, visit rvsa.rockyview.ab.ca
“I think the boys have turned a corner,” Neilson noted. “They’re looking to be super competitive and we’re hoping that’s how the season will go.”
