“Shoot it!” The sixth-grade girls scream. The sixth graders scream and yell as Brekkyn Ayres hits a two-point shot from the elbow to give the Bombers a one-point lead with seven seconds left of the game. The Bombers had been down the whole game, and it was an awesome comeback win. Even though numbers are short for the basketball program overall this year, the sixth-grade team has reached its peak number of players, having a total of thirteen girls this year. The sixth-grade girls basketball team is an important step in building the varsity program.
The sixth-grade girls work on their basketball skills twice a week for an hour and a half. At practice, the team works on every skill they might need in a basketball game, from dribbling skills to rebounding, and much more. The sixth-grade girls are competing in six tournaments this year, including the Cannon Falls home tournament on February 18th. The girl’s record ended this year with six wins and twelve losses. They started out with a slow start to the season going 0-6, but they have improved a lot having a record of 6-6 over their last four tournaments, and at their final tournament the Bombers continued to make progress, winning two games and only losing one game. “We’re a completely different team now than we were at the beginning of the year. We focused on two to three things to improve on between each time we played. The girls worked extremely hard at practice and it showed,” Coach Jake Winchell stated.
Winchell takes responsibility to create a lineup for each game. Every girl has a position or two that she most often plays, in games and in practice. For example, Isla Harrison shares, “I mostly play the small forward, although every once and a while I play the shooting guard.” Point guards usually specialize in dribbling, and being quick, smart players. Shooting guards are also good ball handlers, and they are able to drive to the hoop and score. Small forwards and large forwards are usually good underneath the hoop; they work hard at rebounding and scoring on rebounds. Traditionally, centers are the tallest players on the court and they are good at rebounding, scoring underneath the hoop, and contesting shots.
Many of the girls have been playing since third or fourth grade. Each year the team has added more players, losing only a few along the way. This year the team has thirteen girls, two coaches, and one sixth-grade team manager. Coach Tiffany Kiffmeyer shares her basketball knowledge with the girls every chance she gets. Tiffany shows the girls things like, how to shoot with proper form, and how to complete proper bounce passes.
Normally there would be a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade girls basketball team, but there isn’t a fifth-grade team this year. So the sixth-grade girls have one fifth-grade girl, Hailey Johnson, playing on their team this year. Ayres said, “Hailey’s energetic and a really good rebounder.” The team is definitely better with her than without her.
Hopefully, the girls continue to work hard in the off-season, so in seventh grade when they play more frequently, the time and effort spent working on their skills will pay off. Ayres says, “Faribault was probably my favorite tournament because we have got medals there the past two years.” The girls enjoy receiving medals because it reminds them of how far they have come. “One of my favorite parts about basketball is that Jake [Winchell] makes practices fun by incorporating scrimmages against each other,” Bella Boyum comments. Even though the team has lost some girls over the years, the team continues to grow in numbers showing that the sixth-grade girls are committed and love the sport.
