After pressing and trapping its way to the first state title in program history last season, Roosevelt girls basketball is capable of a Class 5A repeat this season.
But Rough Riders head coach Enoch Miller said his team is thinking longer-term than just another ring. The bigger question he’s pondering: How can Roosevelt build itself into a perennial championship contender?
That’s the question his five returning starters are intent on addressing this year, in addition to making another deep run at Denver Coliseum in March.
“We’re focusing on our culture,” Miller explained. “We’re trying to push the seniors and our other upperclassmen to mold the 16 freshmen in our program. Every day is a bunch of wide eyes — we’re trying to slow it down a bit for them, teach them, help them.
“Of course we’re focused on trying to win, but we’re also focused on being great teammates and building a culture that’s sustainable even when these seniors are gone.”
With that long-term vision in mind, the Rough Riders can afford to be greedy in the short-term, too. Their cast is once again headlined by senior guards Maddie Moyers, Brynn Price and Kinsey Trujillo, junior forward Ryanne Bahnsen-Price and sophomore center Kyla Hollier. All five, along with senior sixth woman Brook Meza, were critical in the ‘Riders running the table to the crown last season.
“We definitely set the standard pretty high last year, especially with a first-year coach and a very young team,” Bahnsen-Price said. “Now, it’s all about hard work and playing together.”
But with a thinner bench this season, especially after losing senior Sienna Siskowski to an ACL tear, Roosevelt’s endurance will be tested. Moyers acknowledged she and her teammates “are going to have to be in amazing shape in order to run the type of game that Coach Enoch wants.”
That game will once again be stifling, unrelenting pressure, albeit with a bit more balance in 2023-24 in an effort to conserve the team’s gas for when it really counts.
“We’re still going to go up and down the floor; we’re still going to press and have our half-court trap,” Miller said. “But there’s going to be times where we’re going to have to be smart about it, and adjust. Because we can beat people in the half-court, too.”
Most of Roosevelt’s impact players will be balling at the next level.
Moyers is headed to Lubbock Christian, Trujillo to Colorado Mesa and Meza to CSU-Pueblo. The sharpshooting Bahnsen-Price has Division I offers (Northern Colorado, San Diego), as does evolving post prospect Hollier (Utah State, CSU). Hollier took on a big load as a freshman during Roosevelt’s title run, and Moyers declared the team’s premier big “has come a long way after playing at a high level all summer.”
“Now (Hollier) knows that teams can’t stop her when she puts her mind to it,” Miller said. “She can score inside, she’s got a nice midrange jumper, and she’s worked on her three, which she can shoot better than she could last year. … She’s going to be a force this season.”
Roosevelt once again stacked its non-conference schedule. RHS opens the season against Class 6A title contender Cherry Creek on Tuesday at the Riders’ sparkling new gym that’s a highlight of the school’s new $110 million building that opened in August.
Last season, the Riders fell to Creek 46-29 in the season opener in Greenwood Village, one of their two defeats. They also fell to phenom Bri Crittendon and Class 4A Riverdale Ridge in league play, but never lost to a 5A opponent. Their biggest tests came at Denver Coliseum, where Air Academy gave them a serious run in the Great 8 and Windsor played them tough in the final.
Those latter two teams will be challengers for the title again this year. Air Academy features CSU commit Caitlin Kramer and junior forward Tatyonna Brown, who racked up a stack of Division I offers this summer, while Windsor is sure to be coached up to contend by playoff time by ex-college boss Karin Nicholls. The Wizards have been state runners-up three years in a row.
Moyers believes teams will try to negate the Riders’ pressure with stall-ball and attempt to neutralize Hollier in the post, but they’ll be ready for both approaches.
“We had a few games last year where we came out slow — against Air Academy, and against Windsor we did the same thing and had to fight back from a deficit,” Moyers said. “We’ve got to come out strong every game, because we do anticipate teams will try to slow us down, but we’ve improved a lot on our outside shooting. Teams might try and pack it in (the paint) and make us shoot outside, but I’m confident we can hit those outside shots.”
