Turner Girls Look to Make Another Run at the Northern C, Boys Will Be Competitive

The Turner Tornado Girls and Boys Basketball teams have been hard at it getting prepared for the 2020-21 winter sports season. Having the start of the season delayed three weeks by Covid-19 has affected every team in the state of Montana, but like everyone else the Tornadoes are raring to go.

The Tornadoes will play a conference only 14 game schedule this fall with their first competitive action taking place after the new year. Girls Head Coach Julie Welsh and Boys Head Coach Dylan Welsh are excited for their teams to get the season underway.

Turner Tornado Girls Basketball

The Turner Tornado girls basketball team has become one of the top teams in the District 9C and have qualified for the Northern C Divisional the past three seasons and will look to make it four in a row this upcoming season.

The Turner girls will return three very experienced seniors, all with plenty of post season experience. Leading the way is All-Conference and All-State standout Shyan Krass. Brandy Calvert and Brooke Reed will help provide solid senior leadership. Krass is one of the premier post players in the Northern C and the state of Montana.

The lone junior is out this season is Laci Maloney. Sophomore Dakota Krass along with freshman Emma Timmons, Hannah Richman and Katie Kimmel will all look to contribute on the court for the Tornadoes this year. Seeing their first action at the high school level will be eighth graders Cassidy Grabofsky and Meridian Snider.

The Tornadoes have been able to replace roster spots lost to graduation with capable contributors each year and they appear to be in position to do more of the same this season, "We have a pretty good mix of girls that offer both speed and years of experience, along with excellent defensive capabilities," stated Welsh.

Krass has plenty of height and stature to protect the middle on defense and contribute effectively on offense, "We have decent height and should be able to defend well," stated Welsh. "Our outside shooting is improving also. Shyan and her sister Dakota have the most height and lots of experience defending the paint."

Their All-State performer is an all around threat, but Welsh is confident she can get strong efforts all the way down her lineup, "Shyan can score from anywhere on the floor. Laci is a threat both inside the paint and outside the perimeter. Brooke scores well and rebounds tough and Brandy is one of our best defenders and is very tough under the basket." The depth chart could run even deeper with younger players playing bigger rolls for the team, "Emma had several minutes last year playing as an eighth grader and she can handle pressure well and shoots the ball very well."

Practice has been competitive from the start but with games right around the corner, Welsh can see the excitement building in her team, "Now that we are within a week of our first game, the intensity has went up even more. These girls always work very hard and the young girls have really stepped up to the challenge."

Welsh had her team focused on condition early on but has began to implement more of her offensive and defensive schemes in to their practices in preparation for the first action of the season.

"Knowing what other teams have returning, I think that every game is going to be evenly matched and should be some great basketball! We just need to take it one game at a time and keep our focus. If we work together for four quarters we should do very well again this season," concluded Welsh. Assisting the Tornadoes again this season is once again, Darcy Ammen.

Turner Tornado Boys Basketball

The Turner boys are under the direction of second year Head Coach Dylan Welsh. A season ago the Tornadoes proved that they could be competitive for stretches against the top teams in the District 9C. This year they look to build upon momentum gained at the end of last years campaign.

The Tornadoes return four starters from last years squad including seniors Shane Kimmel and Austin Welsh along with juniors Trever Kimmel, and Shay Humphreys. This quartet played a ton of minutes a season ago and will provide solid leadership on the court for the younger kids to learn from. Shane Kimmel was All-Conference for the Tornadoes a season ago.

Also returning for the Tornadoes will be sophomore Charlie Calvert, and freshmen Trent Billmayer, and Ryan Doyle. In addition sophomore Chantry Jorgenson has transfered back to contribute to the Tornado effort. These four players will be called upon to play more prominent rolls this year. Rounding out the roster will be eighth graders Carson Maloney, Caleb Zellmer, Tate Beck, and JR Brown.

At the start of every season a coach has an idea what type of team they will have, "We have quite a mix of experience on our team this year, some guys have seen a lot of minutes and had a lot of load last season. The younger guys that are returning got some good game reps in last season, but will be stepping into a significantly larger roll this season. We're hoping everyone settles into their new roles and buys into what we're trying to accomplish," stated Welsh.

The Tornadoes will focus on stopping their opponent, "Defensively we are hoping to have a strong presence and take advantage of our speed and athleticism. We would like to force teams out of their comfort zone and into mistakes that we can capitalize on. Offensively this season we are hoping to get out in some transition and use our athleticism there as well."

Practice is a place to earn the coaches trust, "This year our team is about as competitive top to bottom as we've had. The older boys have seen a lot of minutes and put in a lot of work, and our eighth grade boys are coming off of a pretty successful junior high season. We as coaches don't have to spend much time on motivating the group to keep the intensity up, I think this team will make great strides throughout the season," said Welsh.

After spending much of their early practice time on fundamentals and conditioning the coaching staff has begun to implement larger segments of their offensive and defensive schemes. As far as what he expects this season, Welsh states, "We would like to be competitive and see steady improvement throughout the season. I think this year we have our best chance to have success in the post season with our current roster. We have a lot of talent and athleticism on our side. Overall I just want to see our boys go out and compete and push themselves to their full potential so that whatever the season brings they're happy with their effort and progress."

The Tornadoes Schedule

January 2 Hays/Lodge Pole, January 8 Box Elder, January 9 at Chester/J-I, January 15 Fort Benton, January 16 Chinook, January 33 at Big Sandy, January 23 North Star, January 29 at Box Elder, January 30 Chester/J-I, February 2 at Hays/Lodge Pole, February 5 at Fort Benton, February 6 at Chinook, February 12 Big Sandy, February 13 at North Star (Rudyard). District 9C - Havre, February 17-20. Northern C - Great Falls February 24-27, State C - Bozeman March 10-13.