By Bucky Beaver
There is some great basketball being played in Ballard this season and it’s happening at Ballard High School. Both the girls and boys varsity teams are putting together nice seasons and are set to make a run at the playoffs.
Girls Basketball
The girl’s varsity team has already won 6 games this season—the same amount as all of last year. They have 6 wins against 5 losses (3 and 3 in conference play) putting together a nice five game winning streak (their longest in five years). The Beavers are a young team with only two seniors on the roster and are hoping to make the playoffs for the first time in five years. Overall the team is giving up 3 less points per game and scoring 4 more points per game than last year’s team which has contributed to their success.
The girls basketball team facing off against Garfield. Photo by Ed Tanaka
The Beavers have a balanced scoring team with five different players scoring over 15 points in a game. Juniors Nancy MacGeorge (11.6 points per game [ppg], 6.7 rebounds per game [rpg]), Beverly Verduin (11.5 ppg, 4.3 assists per game [apg]) and Shelby Bailess (8.4 ppg) lead the team in scoring. Senior Sam Hall has been a beast on the boards hauling in 7.2 rpg to go with here 5.5 ppg. Junior Imani Bender has contributed 4.6 ppg and 5.4 rpg; Sophomore Tessa Sechler is averaging 2 steals per game.
The girl’s varsity plays the Australian National Team Wednesday evening at Ballard at 5:45 pm and then jump back into conference play hosting Skyline Friday night. Follow the girl’s basketball team at their web site: www.girlshoops.ballardathletics.org
Boys Basketball
The boy’s varsity team is coming off winning the Les Schwab Holiday Classic going 3-0 winning each game by double figures. The boy’s team is 6-4 overall (2-3 in conference), with three of their four losses against top 10 state ranked teams. All of the losses have come down to a few possessions in the end.
Boy basketball team holding the trophy after they won the Les Schwab Holiday Tournament. Photo by Ed Tanaka
The boys cracked the top 10 state ranking earlier in the season. The Beavers are lead in scoring by seniors Seth Berger (16.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg), Johnny Verduin (12.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg), Stuart MacGeorge (8 ppg), Raymond Owens (6 ppg, 3.3 apg), and Nate Rauda (4.3 ppg, 2 apg). Juniors Nick Brown, Chase Deger, and Darius George have been solid off the bench.
The boy’s varsity plays the Australian National Team Wednesday evening at Ballard at 7:30 pm and then also jump back into conference play hosting Skyline Friday night. Follow the boy’s basketball team at their web site: www.boyshoops.ballardathletics.org
