By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SHERIDAN, Ore.–  With only two returners from last years 10-12 season, this year will be a growing year of sorts for the Sheridan Girls Basketball program as they prepare for the season ahead of them.  For those two returners, the Ayala Sisters in Haley and Chloe, it’ll be important for them to get the new faces on the Varsity squad up to speed as the Spartans make the move back up to 3A for the 2022-23 season.

“Losing three starters is crazy because we thought we’d have two…that changed everything, but we just got to work harder.  Claim their spot really and working hard,” Haley Ayala said.

The elder Ayala was an Honorable Mention selection as a junior in the Tri-River Conference down at the 2A level.  She points to them having to use their defense to compensate for their lack of height and be patient offensively this season with their first game of the year coming December 2 at Portland Adventist Academy in Portland.

“Defensively, we just got to be conditioned.  We got to be really conditioned to compete with the taller people and the other teams.  Coming into this league, we don’t have any experience with any of these other teams, so our offense definitely has to be a little bit more slower in throwing up the ball and everything,” Ayala said.

The Sparts will be on the road for their first four games of the season before hosting Rainier for their home opener on December 16.  PacWest Conference play starts January 3 when Sheridan travels to Santiam Christian before hosting Jefferson on January 6.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald