By Danny Waldo
Both teams entered the 2015-16 high school basketball season with state title aspirations. One team is living up to those dreams, while the other is still trying to find its way. Just five games into the 2015-16 season, the Bozeman Hawk boys basketball team looks to have the makings of a team capable of making a deep post-season run come March, while the Bozeman Lady Hawks have yet to find their rhythm, struggling mightily with turnovers, shot selection and defensive stops. For boys’ head coach Wes Holmquist, depth and play-making ability seem to be his team’s greatest attribute.
Guards Drew Huse, Bennett Hostetler and Lance McCutcheon all possess the ability to create scoring opportunities for themselves off the dribble or kick out to three-pointer shooters positioned around the perimeter. And if opposing teams stay home to prevent the long ball, Bozeman’s posts, Trace Bradshaw and Charlie Carr have enough developed inside moves to maneuver around one-on-one coverage. All of this offensive production does not even take into consideration the Hawk’s most dominant presence, Central Arkansas commit, Aaron Weidenaar, who can score any number of ways. The Hawks are undefeated through the first five games, surviving tough tests on the road at both Helena High and Helena Capital in the last two weeks, but things will start to heat up after the winter break as conference play begins. The Eastern AA is home to the defending state champion and runner-up in Billings Skyview and Billings West, respectfully, while one of the state’s top players, Brendan Howard returns for his junior campaign at Great Falls High. Meanwhile, on the girls side, a team that lost just three seniors off of last year’s state runner-up team, looks like a team that is breaking in an entirely new starting five. Turnovers and quick shot selection have been Bozeman’s undoing in the past two games. Against Helena Capital on December 18th, Bozeman held a 12 point lead with just over four minutes to go only to lose 53-52. Several untimely turnovers and head-scratching three-point attempts allowed the Bruins to get back in it and sneak out of Bozeman with the win. Part of Bozeman’s problems have stemmed from the play in the backcourt where last year’s starting duo of Melanie Johnson and Bailey O’Leary have been out due to disciplinary reasons, so Darra Perdaems, mainly a JV player a year ago, has had to man the point in their absence with inconsistent results. O’Leary returns after the winter break, so that should help. It’s too early to hit the panic button if you are the Lady Hawks head coach Erika Gustavsen. Although her team is just 2-3 on the season, two of those losses came against an undefeated Helena High team, none of the losses counted in the conference standings, so all of Bozeman’s goals are still in front of them. Winter break is the perfect time to work the kinks out in practice before conference play begins the first week of January. Both teams return to action on Tuesday, January 5th versus Billings West. The boys will be on the road, while the girls are at home. Tip-off for both teams is 7:30 p.m. Catch the girls action live online at www.mtsport.tv.
Danny Waldo is a local freelance writer covering Bozeman Hawk and Montana State Bobcat athletics. When he’s not writing about sports, he’s watching sports, coaching sports, or playing sports. Contact Danny at bozemansports@gmail.com. •
