BAZINE — The Western Plains Junior High Lady Bobcats have done well in their first six games.

The biggest win for the Lady Bobcat varsity team came on Dec. 2 in Bazine when they earned a hard fought victory against the Ness City Eagles, 32-24.

“In the days before the Ness City game we talked a lot about confidence and teamwork and who we are as a team, and the girls bought in and came out really ready to play some serious basketball,” Head Coach Sarah Ochs said.

The Junior Varsity is 1-5 at this point in the season with a win against Lacrosse.

Ochs said this year’s team is very young, mostly made up of sixth graders.

“We are not focusing on ours wins and losses this year, we are really focusing on how our skills are improving each game,” Ochs said.

She said they are improving in many areas offensively and defensively.

“These girls still have a ways to go, but their attitudes are excellent, and I’m excited to see how they have matured as a team by the end of the season,” Ochs said.

After six games the varsity is 3-3 with wins against Macksville, Damar, and Ness City.
Ochs said this year they are dealing with a new opponent, learning to win, which is a hard lesson to learn because it is a mind game more than anything most of the time.

“My favorite thing about these girls is they just don’t back down,” Ochs said.

She said in practice they are really focusing on becoming thinking basketball players that pay attention to the little things such as taking good shots and playing defense with their feet.

Junior High Boys Basketball

The boys season has been a little rough.

Both Junior Varsity and Varsity are 0-6 after their first games.

“Our team is very young this year. We are relying on sixth graders to play quality minutes on the varsity floor. This experience for our young athletes will prove to be invaluable to the future success of our basketball program,” Head Coach Luke Ritchie said.