Huskies excited to build basketball programs at Redington

*** Editor’s note: This is the third piece of a five-part series featuring the Valley’s 3A and 4A girls and boys basketball programs. For features about the Colony Knights and Wasilla Warriors, see frontiersman.com/sports. For features about the Houston Hawks and Palmer Moose, see upcoming editions of the Frontiersman.

WASILLA — The 2016-17 school year marked the debut of varsity sports for Redington Jr./Sr. High School.

Throughout the football, cross-country running and volleyball seasons in the fall, and later the wrestling season, the focus has been on building and growth.

Now, the coaches of the Huskies girls’ and boys’ basketball programs are taking the same approach.

“We’re trying to build a program,” Redington girls’ head coach Larry Scott said early in the season.

When Redington made it’s varsity debut against Houston in late December, Scott said the Huskies were focusing on little things. Scott said he’ll look at what the Huskies did when they debuted a junior varsity program last year, and compare it to what his new group of athletes are doing this year. Scott used turnovers as an initial example. In Redington’s first junior varsity game, a contest against Susitna Valley, the Huskies turned the ball over between 50 and 60 times. In the varsity debut against Houston, the Hawks had only 33 turnovers.

Scott looked at that as growth.

“I told them I think by the end of the season we’re going to be a better basketball team if we continue to grow and fix some of the mistakes we make,” Scott said.

Midway through the year, Scott is already seeing progress from a team that started the year with 11 girls (three juniors, two sophomores and six freshmen). Last week, during a road trip across the Kenai Peninsula, the Huskies were within reach of their first win in school history. Homer held on to secure a 36-35 home win against the Huskies. The Mariners managed the victory despite trailing Redington at halftime and allowing the Huskies 11 fourth-quarter points.

Courtney Crockett, one of the team’s captains, scored 23 points in the loss.

Tuesday, the Redington boys earned the chance to celebrate victory for the first time, beating Lumen Christi 30-27 in Anchorage.

“Euphoria,” Redington boys head coach Tony Brooke said by cell phone Wednesday afternoon. “It’s probably the best term to use for those guys, especially the guys who have played with me in football, basketball and soccer. It’s the first official win in any of those sports. It’s huge.”

Brooke — a Redington head coach of the football, boys’ basketball and boys’ soccer squads — is also taking that same approach with his group of athletes. After having only about eight players on the junior varsity squad last season, the Huskies will have about 18, once everyone is healthy and eligible, Brooke said.

“The numbers have been great,” Brooke said.

But the Huskies have faced quite the learning curve. Brooke estimates that only about 10 percent of his players have organized basketball experience. Players completely new to the game are being asked to play pivotal roles for the Huskies. Brooke said, with that inexperience, coaches are spending a great amount of time on the basics of the game. Even though his players are inexperienced, Brooke said the drive is there.

“We set team goals. One of the team goals is they want to be competitive,” Brooke said. “We don’t to be in games where we are constantly dealing with the running clock.”

Brooke said multisport athletes such as Brian Amirault and Tommy Long have become bit parts of the Redington program. Brooke also noted Brody Brooks and Tony Rogers. The Huskies also have Kyler Rumfelt, who is starting for the Huskies.

Scott — who has noted Crockett, Kiana Clarey and Abbie Fuller among his leaders — also said he’s excited about the drive of his team.

“They’re excited. They truly want to get better,” Scott said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.