North Creek’s basketball season is officially underway, kicking off with a tough game against Auburn and a close, hard fought home game against Lake Washington. Despite the early losses, the team is making good progress and hope to improve throughout the winter.
“We’re starting to come together as a team and we’re starting to play with each other well,” Senior captain Carter Cohen said. “We’re looking to improve our defensive intensity, and just play solid defense.”
Most of the athletes had played together since freshman year and this year, they are relying on those relationships more than ever. “I like how we all get together and have fun, there’s no toxic chemistry,” senior Jason Dragan said. Stepping into leadership roles has been a major shift for the upperclassmen, especially for the seniors.“Being a senior honestly feels kind of unreal, it’s always something I’ve thought of,” Senior Elijah Gallup said. As leaders on the team, the seniors learned to keep everyone – including themselves – accountable, and act as role models for the underclassmen.
One of the new additions to the varsity roster is junior Maddox Keim, who’s been enjoying his first year playing at the top level. “Being on varsity definitely feels good, because you’re on the best team and you get to go against better competition.” Keim said. “Our team goal is probably to make it farther in state.”
Last season, the team made it to state for the first time in North Creek history. Even though they narrowly lost against Olympic High School in the opening round, their experience motivated them even more to work harder for the playoffs this year.
Another thing that Keim’s looking forward to is the rivalry game against Bothell. The matchup takes place on Friday, 12/5 at Bothell High, where North Creek hopes to secure their first win of the season. The lessons they’ve learned in the past two games will help them face future challenges. “Next game, we’re focusing on locking up their star players and making sure that we stay consistent on defense,” Gallup said.
With plenty of the season ahead of them, the basketball team remains focused on their growth and improvement, as they work towards eventually punching their ticket to state. After the bittersweet loss last year, they are determined to come back stronger than before. “We’ve had two tough losses but I think we can bounce back,” said Dragan. “I think this season’s gonna be good.”
