Sentinel High School basketball is in full swing right now. When this article is published, the boys and girls will both have played 8 games, but with different success levels.
When this article was written, the boys had won 5 games and lost 4. All 4 of their losses were in their three most recent games, snapping their 5-game win streak. The boys had an excellent start to the season, with 5 straight wins against Billings Senior, Billings Skyview, Great Falls CMR, Belgrade, and Big Sky. In these games, the boys won by more than 10 points in 4 out of 5. The majority of these victories weren’t even close, and the varsity team dominated the whole way through.
For example, in the game against Big Sky, the Eagles were able to score more than 6 points in only one of the quarters. In the first quarter, they scored 6, in the third quarter, 4, in the 4th quarter, 5. Sentinel has been playing excellent defense throughout their games this season. In 5 out of 8 of their games so far this season, their opponents scored less than 40 points. As for Sentinel, there was only one game in which they did not score at least 40 points.
The Sentinel boys varsity team averages more than 51 points per game, which means that they are averaging a victory of more than ten points over their opponents. This brings us to the Sentinel offense, which has also been stellar in comparison to their opponents.
So the boys’ varsity started hot but seems to be cooling off quickly.
Right now, Sentinel seems to dismantle winning teams but falls to losing teams. Sentinel has not lost to a winning team this season and has won every game against opponents above .500.
The fact that all 4 of the team’s losses have been consecutive, and to opponents at or below .500 signifies that there are other factors as to why the team has been losing lately. An interesting common denominator of Sentinel’s losses is that they were all against regional opponents. Sentinel hasn’t lost a game to opponents out of the region this season, but they are 1-4 against opponents within their division. This has led Sentinel to be 6th of 8 within their division, despite being 2 games above .500 relatively early in the season.
The Spartan boys’ team has nothing to worry about though, as the Western AA conference is very close together. Though the Spartans have underperformed in divisional games, they are still only 3 games out of first place. Any team could win the division (except for Flathead… yikes), and if Sentinel gets their divisional games together, it could be them also.
Now for girls basketball; the girls are 3-5 overall, and are 1-4 in the Western AA division. They too are in 6th place out of 8 in the division, but their success level overall is different from the boys so far.
Like the boys, the girls are on a losing streak. They had lost their last 4 games in a row (before the win against Hellgate) after starting 3-1. The girls’ last 4 losses weren’t very close either. Despite Peyton Size’s countless steals and three-pointers, the girls’ varsity team still struggles.
The girls’ team has all the talent a coach could hope for. Mo Mastro and Emily McElmurray are excellent 3-point shooters, and Peyton Size is a great all-around player, but they are still struggling. But why is this? It comes down to three issues: rebounding, ball security, and field-shooting. In almost all of the girls’ games this season, the Spartan varsity girls have been out-rebounded by their opponents. Take the game at home against Big Sky for example. The Eagles had 7 more rebounds in the game than the Spartans did, which is a significant number in high school basketball. The same story happens with almost all of the girls’ games. Lack of rebounding leads to missed scoring opportunities, and more scoring opportunities for their opponents.
The second issue is ball security. In the Big Sky game, the Eagles had more than double the amount of steals that the Spartans (mostly Peyton Size) had. Other games also fit this theme of a struggle with ball security, and this is an important part of winning basketball games. If you want to win games, you have to be able to keep possession of the ball.
The girls were able to rebound with a win over Hellgate on January 19th, and are hoping to keep up the winning. They will be able to do so if they can hold on to the ball, rebound, and make the most of their scoring opportunities.
As for the boys, they haven’t quite recovered from their mid-season losing stretch. They lost to Hellgate on the 19th, and Hellgate advanced to a record of 8-1. Hellgate is still undefeated within their division. This game put the boys’ varsity team at a mediocre but still solid 5-4, but their 1-4 division record means that they’re still in 6th place for the division, out of 8 teams. The division losses just keep piling up for the boys, and their chances of winning the division are close to none. Hellgate has put together an incredible season, and they are surprisingly almost a lock for the 1st place spot.
The GOAT game will determine who is the top dog in the Western AA conference, and it is a must-win if the Spartans want to be legitimate contenders in the conference.
