We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
The 2015-16 Harlem Girls Varsity Basketball Team. L-R, back row: Senior Emma Humphreys, freshman Autumn Eagleman, senior Brooke LeValdo, senior Mari Ereaux and senior Anita Bentley; Kneeling: Sophomore Elizabeth Horn, freshman Skylee Dirden, junior Val TalksDifferent, junior Jazzamyn Benson and sophomore Taylor Stiffarm.
Laramie Schwenke takes over as head coach of the Harlem girls basketball program.
Schwenke had a standout career with the Malta M-Ettes and MSU-Northern Skylights and has a ton of experience to bring to the program.
Schwenke was an assistant a year ago and is familiar with the players on the roster.
This year's team includes seniors Emma Humphreys, Brooke LeValdo, Mari Ereaux and Anita Bentley.
Juniors include Val TalksDifferent and Jazzamyn Benson. Sophomores are Elizabeth Horn and Taylor Stiffarm.
Two freshman fill out the roster and they are Skylee Dirden and Autumn Eagleman.
This roster has experience, "This team returns a solid core group in seniors Anita, Brooke, Mari, and Autumn. They all started last year. We've also got a couple of younger kids on the roster and are very excited to see their contributions this year," state Schwenke.
The process is one step at a time and Schwenke is looking forward to it, "I'm expecting this team to continually grow and come together as a group throughout the year and compete every single night, taking one game at a time. One goal we have is making it to the divisional tournament which would be a huge achievement for these kids and to this program and I'm very excited about that."
The girls will get started this Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Havre as they take on Kanai during the annual Native American Classic played in the Armory Gymnasium on the campus of MSU-Northern. Saturday the Wildcats will take on Heart Butte at 12:30 p.m.
"I'm expecting us to come out with intensity, energy, and compete both nights. Execute our game plan and play hard for the full 32 minutes, we've been focusing a lot of defense and rebounding winning the boards. The kids are excited to play against somebody besides themselves so we'll continue to prepare the rest of the week and come out ready to go on Friday night," said Schwenke.
As for their preparation the girls have been working hard, "Practice has been great thus far, I'm happy with where we are at and where we are headed. The kids have been showing up and working hard every single day. We've had some bumps and bruises already, but that's normal and they've shown a little bit of grit and I'm happy about that. We still have a ton of work to do, but we're getting a little bit better each day and that's exciting," concluded Schwenke.
The team will face Malta December 18 before hosting Wolf Point the following day in their home opener.
