Trojans Begin Basketball Trail

By Kelly Sharp

         Trojans Guard Sarah Zielke shooting over PGSS defender

The double-A Trojans march into the early senior girls basketball season is going according to plan.  D.P. Todd used the tournament trail in Kamloops and Vernon to seek out competition against provincially seeded teams. The Trojans followed a 2-1 record in Kamloops with a second place finish to the host team in Vernon. Todd knocked off the defending provincial single-A champs Immaculata of Kelowna in the semi-final.

“Physicality and conditioning,” Trojans coach Dave Zielke said, when noting what areas D.P.  Todd could work on from the Okanagan experience.

“We need to toughen up our man-to-man defense,” Trojans forward Jessica Freimuller said.

The close-knit Trojans have been sharing the same basketball court since Grade 8. They lost the provincial semi-final by 4 and bronze medal by 2 points last year as Grade 11s.

D.P Todd Forward Meghan Kennedy says there is only one way to cap off 4 years of team work.

“We want to do well and win the provincial championship.” Kennedy said.

The team game with an exclamation point is how to describe Dave Zielke’s approach to coaching the Trojans.

“We don’t really have a bench,” Zielke said. “It’s like running lines, we play everybody making it hard to defend.”

The depth of the Trojans was too much for the PGSS Polars in city league play. It was a game where D.P. Todd focused on preventing baskets. Todd won 78-14.

The Trojans march towards the provincials will resume January 5^th at College Heights. Todd will also trek south for tournaments in Vernon and Vancouver before the north central zone championships in late February.

You know Dave Zielke will be tweaking the Trojans game along the way.

“It’s not about winning, it’s about the journey” Zielke says to his team, “enjoy the journey.”

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