By Buhler High School Sports Writing Class
Buhler, KS – The Buhler High School girls basketball team’s successful start to their 2024-2025 season can be attributed to one thing: they are doing this together. The Crusaders currently have a record of 10-3. The Crusaders are coming off a decisive 62-36 home victory over El Dorado last night.
In his second year of coaching, head coach John Darrow has high hopes for his team. Last year they finished the season with a 11-10 record and really worked to implement the new offense and defense that Darrow brought with him.
This year, the Crusaders seem to be finding any missing pieces as this team battles through each game.
“We talked about it after a big win at Augusta. I told this group, ‘Don’t take a minute of the season for granted because we’ve got something really special here,” said Darrow.
On the back of the players’ warmups, the word “TOGETHER” is printed in large font.
“We talk a lot about the Buhler brand of basketball. I put three words on the board, “tough, discipline, and together” because that’s how we have to win. When you look at our sidelines and see us huddle up and see our kids celebrate when a charge happens, that gives us an much as an advantage as anything in the game,” said Darrow.
This team has depth behind each player which allows them to really push the ball down the court and implement a strong press.
“This makes my job easy and hard. I can look down the bench and I trust every single kid that is wearing our jersey. The hardest part is to figure out where our puzzle pieces fit.”
One important piece of that puzzle is senior forward Natalya Krafels. Last week at the Salina Invitational, Krafels topped her scoring record at 26 points.
“[Breaking my record] is awesome, most importantly for us to win, but from a bigger role, trying to reach a point record for myself of 1,000 points,” said Krafels. “Everyone has a common goal that we want to win and we want to be good and feel what it’s like to succeed.”
Senior forward/post player Sammie Brooks echoed Krafels compliments of her team’s dedication to each other.
“I feel that in order to win at anything in life you have to use your teammates. We have our best games when we pass the ball around and don’t settle for quick shots. Also team chemistry is really important and directly translates to how well we play. We emphasize building relationships with each other off the court so that our performance is better on the court,” said Brooks.
The Lady Crusaders will use the second half of the season to complete their puzzle.
“We want to go on to state and make it as far as we can in the post season,” said Krafels.
The Crusaders will play at home again on Friday, Feb. 7th. The game begins at 6:00. Fans can listen on KHWK 95.9 or watch the live stream on Ad Astra Radio’s Youtube channel.
