By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

Last Thursday, Berthoud High School (BHS) had two varsity girls basketball teams at their doubleheader against Weld Central High School. While one varsity team was comprised of teenagers who have been playing all season, the other team consisted of reunited old friends and teammates. That other team was BHS’s powerhouse varsity girls basketball team from the early 90s.
Three decades ago BHS was a dominant force across Colorado in girls basketball. In the 1992 and 1993 seasons, the Spartans team won back-to-back 4A state championships. Team photos of the two championship teams hang prominently in the main basketball gymnasium at BHS celebrating their success.
“I think my fondest memory being part of both championships was being able to play with some amazing people, and having amazing coaches,” said Carolyn Betts. Betts along with other members of the two championship teams reunited at BHS last Wednesday and Thursday to celebrate and honor the team.
In addition to Betts, members of the championship team who attended the celebration at BHS included: Anne Ballard-Della Donne, Kerri Burcham-Resig, Stacey Gade-Sharp, Jenna Materasso-Daley, Heidi Zuercher, Tiani Hatch-Schoemaker and Joretta Hatch. Two of the coaches from the team, John Mitchell and Allan Coseo were also in attendance. Coseo still assists with coaching the varsity girls basketball team.
The former championship team spent the previous Wednesday afternoon at the current varsity girls basketball team’s practice. Then on Thursday members and coaches of the championship team gathered at BHS for a question-and-answer session with the local media.
During the media event, many of the women recalled their fondest memories while part of the team in the 1990s. “I would say that one of my most favorite memories was — I think it was the ‘93 championship — we were riding back on the bus after we had won the [championship] game, and it was dark. But basically, there were a bunch of firefighters and police cars with their lights on at the exit to Berthoud. And I was like ‘Oh my gosh, there’s been an accident’ and they were actually there to escort our bus — I don’t know what time it was, it was late — back to town with all their lights. And that felt really cool,” said Ballard-Della Donne.
“There’s not one single memory, I think it’s a bunch of memories, over a lot of years. And I would say all the little shenanigans, that whenever we get back together, that’s what we talk about. I think that’s what built our team was the friendships,” said Burcham-Resig.
Gade-Sharp was a senior on the 1992 team. For her, winning the state title in her senior year was a huge achievement. “We won second, third, and then first. So, my favorite memory is just actually winning first. Like it was a big deal and I think that getting the girls that worked so hard to get to that point together, made it extra special. And we were good friends outside of basketball. We had a lot of fun. And we didn’t just come in practice, play and go home. We actually got along well.”
The two coaches also reflected on the team. “Just looking at these kids, you can see how kids — they’re not kids anymore — but they’re such great kids and they’ve developed into such wonderful women who it’s just been a pleasure to have been around them all these years,” said Coseo.
“It’s just an honor. They were just awesome kids. I mean, not just basketball players, but athletes, not just athletes, but students. I think our average GPA was, I want to say it was like 3.87,” said Mitchell. “They worked hard. And that made it just easy for us,” he added.
The team said that for them, girls sports didn’t seem that different from boys sports in the early 90s. “I may be speaking for all of these women up here, it never felt like we were held back,” said Ballard-Della Donne. “We all wore men’s basketball shoes, they didn’t make basketball shoes for women back then,” she added.
The team agreed that girls have more opportunities in sports now, but that they were never limited in their aspirations in the 90s. “I just feel like we just we had our mission, and we had our roles. And that’s all we saw,” said Burcham-Resig.
Members of the team then talked about how basketball gave them a lot of skills to deal with future life. “Your success as a team — is a success as a team — and you are as strong as the weakest link. So if you think about it that way, whomever your weakest link is on your team, you need to figure out a way to make them stronger,” said Betts.
After the media session, the former championship team settled into a night of BHS basketball against Weld Central High School. They mingled with family and friends throughout the night before being honored at half-time during the varsity girls basketball game. During the celebrations, each member present was brought out with their family to a standing ovation in the gymnasium. There was also a moment of silence for Kelli Schultz-Peterson, a former member of the team and leading member of the Berthoud community who passed away last November.