Cody Basketball Hits the Road for Battles with Star Valley, Jackson

With the weekend just about upon us the Cody basketball teams get set for their longest road trip of the season as they will travel to Star Valley and Jackson. As the two teams dive back into 4A play with a match-up with a pair of teams out of the Southwest Quadrant I caught up with both teams head coaches to talk the weekend’s action.

For the Cody Fillies, who are 9-2, 2-1 in quad play, they will be going up against a pair of opponents that have combined to win just four games on the season. Head Coach Chris Wagner likes this match-up saying he likes seeing a variety of opponents throughout the season. As for what they’re working on at practice, zone offense has been a big topic.

“Trying to work the ball inside. We’re finishing really well inside once we get it there. So kind of tweaking things around with the zone offense. I think a big thing with both teams, Star Valley and Jackson, is tempo control, especially with Star Valley. They like to use their offense defensively. They’ll run the clock for a minute and a half and wait till that perfect look. If we can find a way to keep the tempo, go out and get some points early and get a lead, force them to play a little faster, it’ll be good for us.”

Finishing down low has been no problem for the Fillies all season and coach likes the improvement he’s seen with the shooting but one are he really wants to see improvement in is getting to the charity stripe and says this is a good weekend to work on that aspect of the game.

“Get to the free throw line. Sometimes we have a driving lane there and we’ll get a little bit of contact and back out… or we’ll have great position in the post and we’ll be a little to hesitant to go. So trying to get the ball in, get to the rack and try to get to the free throw line a little bit more.”

As for the Cody Broncs, they are 2-9 entering the weekend. The Broncs have been playing a better brand of basketball as of late and view these next four games against the 4A Southwest as an opportunity to capture some momentum and confidence heading into the final stretch. Head coach Jake Kraft talks about how a road trip like this can help the team both on and off the court.

“I think when you’re on the road you don’t have the distractions that you do at home. We’re all on the same schedule with the same itinerary and we’re in close quarters. So it’s a great opportunity for our kids to bond with each other as we prepare for all these home games as we finish the season.”

As for the contests themselves, expect a completely different look both days as both teams, Star Valley and Jackson, each bring something different to the table.

“Star Valley’s a unique atmosphere. With a good crowd, the numbers are up, 250 can come to the game. So that’s just a great atmosphere for us to play in. They do a few things. They’ll man and zone and trap. So we’ll try to prepare for those things. They lost quite a few kids but they also return a lot of experience. Then on Saturday, we’re going to see a Jackson team that has some young talent and hopefully we’re able to overpower them early and take care of that one.”

The Cody Basketball teams are back in action today and tomorrow as they travel to Star Valley and Jackson. Today’s double header at Star Valley gets underway at 6pm with the girls up first and the boys to follow. Tomorrow at Jackson is a 1 in the afternoon start time with the girls up first and the boys to follow. You can listen to each one of those games live on the voice of Cody Sports KODI AM 1400, 96.7FM or online here: https://radio.securenetsystems.net/cirrusencore/index.cfm?stationcallsign=KODI&playSessionID=535AAA68-A1FB-3A92-FBECA57762F63C2F&embedOpened=true&embedOpenedApp=song&embedOpenedSong=%C2%A0&embedOpenedArtist=%C2%A0&embedOpenedAlbum=%C2%A0