The Elkhorn Antlers boys and girls basketball teams plan to have a successful season by both making it to the state tournament. The boys team made it to the state tournament last year but lost in the first round to the Skutt Catholic Skyhawks. The girls team had a good season last year as well, but unfortunately their season ended with a loss to Scottsbluff in a district final. After the good performances from both teams last year, they plan to get back to where they left off and win.
“We have eight seniors on our team, meaning a lot of great leadership,” senior basketball player Maureen Kubicek said. “I think we eight agree that the strong team chemistry and athletic ability we have already seen in our preseason will be a huge asset for us.”
Since they have already had a great preseason, it is reasonable to expect great things from this team. The ability to win games will be in the seniors’ hands as they continue to lead and perform well for the Antlers in the regular season. However, they struggle with having a good amount of height.
“The toughest challenge we may have to overcome is our lack of height,” senior basketball player Emerson Karstens said. “We really do not have a true post player, so that could be a challenge against teams that have height.”
When playing teams that have height their opponents can use their height to their advantage and almost score at will because they will be able to control the paint. However, if teams are relatively smaller, it will be a lot more competitive because they are pretty even when it comes to height. On the other hand, this challenge could end up being good for them. For this team, the little things are what will matter.
“Our goal as a team is to better each other everyday and push each other to our limits,” senior basketball player Dalia Durant said. “For me personally, my goal is to make sure that I am doing the best I can for the team, whether it is going really hard at a drill, making a pass for a better shot, or even hyping up my teammates.”
The Antler girls team will look forward to making their season a success as their seniors’ leadership will provide them the keys to winning games. They have the ability to teach and represent what it means to be an Antler basketball player, which means doing the little things with full effort. The Antler Boys team plan to pick up where they left off from last year, but with a completely new team.
“I think the ceiling is high with our squad this year,” Antler boys basketball coach Nick Thompson said. “We lack a lot of varsity experience, since we lost a lot last season, so the question is can we turn potential into productivity.”
Losing players is something that every team goes through, from high school to professional, but it is a team’s ability to adapt to change and be the next man up that really shows how good a team is. One player in particular, senior Jake Petersen, barely played any varsity minutes last year, yet he is projected to be one of the starters.
“I like that I did not play any varsity last year, so nobody knows about me, so I will just surprise people with what I can do,” Petersen said.
Players like Petersen have a special opportunity to go out on the court and show everyone what they have. This will bring passion to the team and will show how good they can be. However, everyone must play as a unit for their passion to truly show.
“If we commit to playing team basketball on both ends of the court, good things will happen,” Thompson said.
The keys to success for the Antler boys team is to go out and show everyone who they are and play selfless basketball. They must play together as a team and not get in their heads.
“Our goal is to get better each day and to play our best game of the season, the last game of the season,” Thompson said. “If we do those things we can head back to PBA.”
