It’s been a unique start to the season for Beal City basketball coaches Brad Antcliff and Cameron Gatrell in more ways than one.
Antcliff, the longtime successful baseball coach and assistant football skipper for Beal City is working with a Beal City girl squad that is extremely young this season.
Though the Aggies have struggled at 1-5, they continue to show promise. They’ve been humbled by teams like Lake City, Morley Stanwood, Pine River and Beal City, but defeated Vestaburg 58-24 and lost narrowly to Fowler 54-48.
“The record doesn’t show it, but it’s going well,” Antcliff said. “The girls are learning and getting better. There are things we need to work on. We’re 0-2 in the Highland. We played a very good Pine River team and a very good Lake City team.”
Ashley Reihl is averaging 9.3 points a game for the Aggies while Haley McMullen is at six points per game and Natalie Gross at five per game. Kenzie Schneider is at 4.7 points per game.
“We have three seniors and we have a couple of girls who didn’t play last year,” Antcliff said. “We’re young as far as basketball goes. The girls are working hard and that’s all I can ask.”
Beal City boys
The Aggie boys have only gotten two games in so far and are 2-0 with a 64-54 win over Clare and 59-55 win over Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
“We’re playing well, we’re still young,” Gatrell said of his team. “We have a lot to work on.”
Aaron Schafer leads the team in scoring and rebounding. He started as a sophomore last season, too.
Gatrell is also using some seniors like Trey Ferguson, who have been key contributors, along with Ryan Schafer, who has been the team’s best overall player.