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Basalt High girls basketball returns four starters, enters with high expectations

Kat Fitzpatrick, right, instructs players during the Basalt High School girls basketball team's midnight practice last season. Fitzpatrick, a 2008 BHS graduate, is in her second season as the head varsity coach.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times |

The Basalt High School girls basketball team started to find some swagger at the end of last season. The Longhorns started 2-13 before winning three out of five games toward the end, including a 45-38 victory over Coal Ridge in their district play-in game.

And with only point guard Carsyn Knotts having graduated from that group, second-year head coach Kat Fitzpatrick hopes to have that swagger a little earlier this season.

“They are walking into the games now knowing that we have a chance,” she said. “The practices have definitely had a lot more energy than last season. We kind of had a wake-up call at the end of last season when they started to play really well and I think they started to see the potential that I see.”



The BHS girls open their season Friday against Salida in a tournament hosted by Centauri High School in La Jara. The team went 5-16 in its first season under Fitzpatrick, a 2008 Basalt graduate, the most wins since also winning five during the 2010-11 season.

Basalt returns four starters from a year ago — seniors Nicole Alvarado, Kate Schrock, Cintia Miramontes and sophomore Michelle Marshall — and will likely see sophomore Taylor Glen fill the fifth spot. Glen is the younger sister of 2017 BHS grad Michael Glen, who now plays basketball at the School of Mines.




Glen and Alvarado will try and fill the void left by Knotts at point guard.

“Losing Carsyn was hard, because she’s been the starting point guard for four years,” Fitzpatrick said. “Everyone else on the team is used to her being in that role. We are looking to see who can step up and fill that point guard position and see how that changes things.”

Statistically, Basalt was a balanced scoring team last season, with Schrock, Miramontes and Alvarado all scoring over 8 points per game (Schrock led the team with 8.7). With all that scoring back on the court, Fitzpatrick believes the team can shoot for a top-four finish in league play this season.

“We are in a really good position to make that a reality,” Fitzpatrick said. “They got a taste of some wins and successes that they haven’t seen before. So they are coming in with a little bit more of a competitive nature, which is really nice.”

Following this weekend’s tournament in La Jara, Basalt will host Delta on Thursday, Dec. 7.

acolbert@aspentimes.com