During a Friday morning practice, most Mountain Pointe students were likely sleeping in or just getting up as both teams hit the floor.

But in the gymnasium, you could hear coaches yelling, shoes squeaking on the floor, basketballs bouncing and rims rattling.

The girls and boys varsity basketball teams were both working hard, and not on separate halves of the court, but in tandem with each other.

Some may question exactly why the girls and boys would go head to head in practice, but head coach for the boys varsity team, Duane Eason, explained it concisely and clearly.

“They run a lot of stuff,” Eason said after the girls left the gym.

He also said that that they run different offenses than the boys varsity and junior varsity teams do. This is key to player development because it allows for them to see new types of offenses in preparation for real games.

Facing the junior varsity boys is good for seeing how the varsity boys will stack up to similar sized players and those who play at a similar tempo. But variety in preparation is inherently superior despite the physical gap in the boys and girls teams.

However, a surprise came to many of the boys on the floor once the whistle blew and the drills began.

The girls may not be as tall or as long as the boys, but they were quick and aggressive. They were also surprisingly physical. There was no hesitation shown by the girls as they pushed around in the paint, set up screens and boxed out.

Coach for the girls team, Justin Hager, spoke about this high level of physicality his girls showed after the practice ended.

“They take it as a challenge. They were excited for it,” Hager said.

The boys looked uncomfortable and unsure how serious to take the drill at first. Eason noticed this, too, and after multiple mistakes and players not being aggressive enough, his booming voice silenced the gym.

“They aren’t girls, they’re basketball players,” Eason said, prompting smiles from the ladies and the shuffling of feet from the boys.

It was a simple but strong statement and it seemed to fuel the girls even more as they amped up the energy.

When asking team captain for the girls, Isabel Enriquez, about Eason’s words, she said she felt pride.

“I felt like he was giving us the respect that we deserve,” Enriquez said. “We put in just as much time as the boys do, we work just as hard.”

From then on out it was full go on both sides. Each team was playing hard, but more importantly, learning.

Dots were connecting, adjustments were visible, seeing a different style of play from a new opponent allowed for players to make physical changes to their game.

The boys and girls programs working together is helpful for each team and Coach Hager said that they regularly work with the boys at different levels.

At the end of the day, similar to what  Eason said, they’re all basketball players.