Young players step up for both varsity squads
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
Lone Peak High School’s basketball teams savored the taste of victory to begin their 2025-26 season, each defeating Gardiner High School on Dec. 6 at home. Gardiner is a non-conference Class C opponent, whereas Lone Peak ascended to Class B in 2023-24 season.
For the girls, wins have been hard to come by. The Big Horns lost all of their regular season games last season before ending a 15-month drought with a thrilling tournament win at the end of a long season.
To begin this season, the Big Horn girls defeated the Bruins, 56-37, even playing short-handed after senior Harper Morris fouled out in the third quarter. They held a comfortable lead for the entire game, thanks to an early burst of scoring from Morris, all-around leadership and grit from fellow senior Maddie Wilcynski, and the surprising emergence of eighth grader Kaydence Rothmeyer.
“Such a relief,” head coach Jessica Bedway said after the win. She explained it’s going to be an interesting year with numerous forfeits due to three of her players’ commitments to travel soccer. The roster includes only seven players, and when junior Sophie Kendrick leaves to study abroad, the team will be down to six. Bedway hopes to schedule additional games to replace some of the forfeitures created by the roster shortage.
While roster size is a challenge, the depth improves with the young, encouraging talent from Rothmeyer, the team’s eighth-grade call-up.
“She had such court presence,” Bedway said. “I can’t say enough. I’m so pleased… the fact that she goes out there as an eighth grader and just handles it, she did so well.”
Rothmeyer reflected on her first varsity-level game, in which she scored 12 points.
“My teammates were really encouraging, and when I made a mistake they just brought me up, and weren’t negative. So I just got more comfortable,” Rothmeyer said.
She’s loved the sport since she began playing in fifth grade. She feels confident in the paint, rebounding and going up for layups through traffic, as she did on Saturday.
Senior Maddie Wilcynski said Rothmeyer was awesome.
“I am so, so proud of her—we’re all so proud. I think she grabbed more rebounds today than any of us did last season… She just came out on fire. She’s been so attentive in practice, too, so coachable.”
Bedway commended Wilcynski for stepping up as a team leader at point guard, keeping her teammates calm and contributing throughout the game. She led Lone Peak with 14 points.
“Maddie Wilcynski had an amazing game… She’s a leader extraordinaire this year,” Bedway said.
Wilcynski wants to support her teammates and make sure every player enjoys both games and practices. She hopes to see every player become more calm and confident on the court.
“I mean, we have such a wide range. Eighth grader to seniors, and everybody’s already working hard,” Wilcynski said. “So just making sure I’m supportive enough of everyone to keep that trend going.”
Bedway added that last year’s goal, to stay composed, continues into this season as the young players look to build experience.
“They’re having fun, that’s most important,” Bedway said.
Boys ‘gut out’ first win
The boys team set their high-water mark in Class B last season, falling one game short of reaching the divisional tournament.
Head coach Al Malinowski said he sees similarities between this year’s squad and the 2022-23 squad that made school history with a Class C state tournament run.
While he’s not necessarily predicting a Class B state berth, he said, “if this team comes together and we keep improving, I think there’s an opportunity for us to do a lot.”
During the team’s first two seasons at the challenging Class B level, Malinowski has been pleased to see his players gain composure in the tense final minutes of close games. Last year, season-long experience paid off in the tournament with a comeback victory.
“It’s good to see us gut out a win,” Malinowski said after Saturday’s 66-58 victory. “At the end where they were fouling us, putting us at the free throw line… I thought we made some really smart plays at times.”
He described the talent lost since last season, primarily 2025 graduate Isaac Bedway, who became the school’s second-ever 1,000-point scorer and scored the most career 3-pointers in school history—he reached the milestone in just three seasons. He led the 2024-25 team in rebounds, blocks and scoring and earned Lone Peak’s third-ever all-state selection.
In addition, current senior Oliver McGuire decided not to play this year, and Malinowski noted the team will miss his rebounding and high-volume minutes.
The Big Horns excelled in rebounding on Saturday, to their coach’s surprise, while they struggled to finish baskets.
“We had a lot of shots that we usually see fall that just didn’t, especially our 3-point shooting wasn’t as good as it normally is… They’re gonna start falling. Some might have been first-game jitters, some may have been [fatigue],” coach Malinowski said.
Junior Ryan Malinowski led the team in scoring with 20 points, grabbing nine rebounds. Senior Ebe Grabow scored 17 and poached five steals, and junior Miles Romney put up 15 points—including a nifty reverse layup ahead of the third quarter buzzer—with a team-leading 13 rebounds.
Ryan Malinowski saw good signs.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys who’ve never played varsity before. A lot of those guys stepped it up, and did what we needed them to do,” Ryan said. He added that a main team goal is to get those younger players lots of minutes, helping build their experience to improve the team’s depth throughout the season.
Two such players, junior Townes Laxson and sophomore Steen Mitchell, weren’t shy with their expanded roles.
“We had some big shoes that we needed to fill in from last year, a lot of points and rebounding,” Ryan said. “And both Townes and Steen stepped it up today. Both got a lot of great minutes, looked really good out there, fit with the team great.”
Coach Malinowski said Mitchell is “scrappy, smart and not afraid of the moment,” and Townes had some great moments in the opening game. Mitchell scored five points including a 3-pointer in the first quarter, and Laxson added three points.
The regular season continues on Dec. 18 at West Yellowstone, with Class B competition beginning the following Friday, Dec. 19, as Lone Peak hosts Manhattan High School.
