PuebloWestview.com

Published on: July 02, 2009

View photos/Mike Griffin

Pueblo West's Kortney Sorensen shoots over the Campbell County defense in Greeley.

Mid-season form, even in the offseason

West girls basketball team pushes champs to the limit

By MIKE GRIFFIN
The Pueblo West View

GREELEY - This did not look like offseason basketball.

A defending state championship team tangled with a perennial playoff team.

There were crisp passes, aggressive drives to the bucket and long jumpers that hit all net.

It was tight all the way, and in the end, a great team beat a very good one.

Coach Mike Wilkinson and his Pueblo West High School girls basketball team wrapped up summer play Saturday at the University of Northern Colorado Women's Basketball Team Camp in Greeley. And the Cyclones walked away feeling pretty good about themselves, despite having lost their last game.

"We're playing really well. We are miles ahead of where we were last year," Wilkinson said. "Last year at the end of this tournament, I was ready to be done."

Wilkinson made those comments just before the Cyclones played their finale against Campbell County - defending Wyoming state champions. The Cyclones had won five of seven games so far in Greeley and about 30 of about 40 on the summer. But Campbell County would be different, and Wilkinson warned that it could get a bit lopsided. He said he hoped his team could stay within 10 points.

The Cyclones set the tone early. Senior post player Kortney Sorensen grabbed an offensive rebound, scored and drew a foul.

Pisay Suzuki scored eight early points, and with 4:20 left in the first half, sophomore point guard Dee Arrieta nailed a 3-pointer to give West a 21-19 lead.

Campbell County evened the score at 21-21, and then star forward Jordan Kelley took over, scoring nine straight points to put the Camels ahead, 30-21.

That was the ball game. The Cyclones didn't fold, playing Campbell even the rest of the way. But the deficit was too much to overcome, and they settled for a 45-38 loss.

Still, losing a close game to a team like Campbell County wasn't much of a downer. Wilkinson said he was satisfied.

"Absolutely. I don't know that there are any teams in the South-Central League that are as good as (Campbell County). A game like this in the summer gives our kids confidence that we can win tight S-CL battles," Wilkinson said. "We've put ourselves in a position where we've given ourselves an opportunity to win our league."

They've done so by growing up individually and collectively.

Last winter, Arrieta was a freshman guard who played alongside a senior leader in Meranda Encinias. Sorensen was a solid, but somewhat inconsistent junior playing inside.

Pueblo West point guard Dee Arrieta looks to make a pass against Campbell County.

After 40 games of summer ball, Arrieta looks like a floor general and Sorensen looks like a dominant interior player as well as a senior leader. And around them, kids such as Mares and Kelsea Androes clearly have elevated their games.

"We're so much better than we were last year," Sorensen said. "Everybody is stepping up."

"(Arrieta) is a complete player. For a sophomore, she understands the game as well as any kid I've ever had," Wilkinson said. "She plays great defense, she rarely has a turnover, she's our best 3-point shooter and she penetrates well. Sorensen has elevated her game."

Wilkinson said the team also has gotten good contributions from soon-to-be freshman Taylor Leyva, who like Arrieta, came to the high school team already possessing an excellent understanding of the game. He said many middle school kids in Pueblo West are playing a lot of basketball on club teams organized by parents, and that experience is paying dividends.

It helped make Arrieta varsity-ready as a freshman, and Wilkinson said Leyva is another star in the making.

"She's (just like Arrieta). She's going to be a special player. She could be our point guard or our post player. She can play every position, and she understands every position," Wilkinson said.