Girls Basketball Season Recap 2023

The girls’ basketball team has recently finished a tremendous season! Mr. Worley, Miss Gleason, and Mr. Hottman, the team’s coaches, worked hard to develop not only their basketball skills but also student-athletes’ character and physical fitness during their short nine-week season. A small number of these students had previous basketball experience, but all ended their season with a love of the game.

Ridgeview had a strong start to the season with wins against Loveland Classical, Knowledge Quest, and Immanuel Lutheran. After Fall Break the girls took back-to-back losses against Heritage Christian and Dayspring Christian. However, this did not break their spirit. Determined to improve and prepare for the championship tournament, the lady Hoplites continued to work hard in the gym. As the season progressed so did their skills and teamwork which resulted in more wins against Windsor Charter, West Ridge, Union Colony, Saint Joseph, Saint John, and even the only undefeated team in the league, Saint Mary Catholic School.

The last weekend before the championship tournament began, Coach Worley and Coach Gleason took B-team players to a tournament at Windsor Charter. They, too, were able to show the NCIL how much they have improved this season and were able to beat each team that defeated them in the regular season.

I admired how this group celebrated their wins together and supported one another through their losses. They would high five and pat one another on the back whenever a free throw was missed, or an error was caused. Both players and coaches knew how to alter the pace of the game when they had a large lead on another team and sought opportunities to help their younger teammates and B-team players improve their skills and confidence by setting them up to take shots at the basket during A-team games. Opposing coaches, players, and officials repeatedly would tell me how much fun their team had playing the Hoplites and how respectful our student-athletes are.

On November 13th the Hoplites played in the quarter-final championship game against Loveland Classical Schools on their home court at Council Tree Church. With the strong support of their community, the lady Hoplites defeated Loveland 24-19. Two days later, the girls faced Ascent Classical Academy away in Windsor. The Archers played a great game, but the lady Hoplites used their furious transition game to pull away with a 34-20 win. Their victory landed them a spot in their first Gold Division Championship game since 2011. Friday, November 17th the Hoplites played Saint Mary Catholic School in Greeley for the championship matchup. Our team came out in the first quarter strong, obviously hungry to win a championship title. However, as the game progressed and our most aggressive players ran out of fouls, the Saint Mary Catholic School Angels slowly took the lead and defeated our lady Hoplites 27-26.

The Ridgeview community is extremely proud of this team and is eager to see what the future holds for Ridgeview basketball.