With just eight combined wins over the past three seasons — none in Centennial League play — external expectations for the Smoky Hill girls basketball team were likely underwhelming.
Internally, however, the Buffaloes knew things would be different in the 2025-26 campaign.
A second season of reshaping culture under head coach Shawn Dirden and the transfers of several impact players created a sense of optimism that has been born out on the court in a notable 11-4 start.
“Our goals from the beginning were set high, to have a winning season and make the playoffs,” Dirden said. “Last season was not as much about winning and losing, but about attitude and work ethic. We were building a foundation and I just told them ‘I need you to believe.’”
In his first season coaching a girls team, Dirden — a former assistant at multiple men’s college programs who also had the head job with the Cherokee Trail boys from 2008-11 — guided the team to five wins. It was a significant jump from one victory in the 2023-24 season after two wins the season prior.
That constituted momentum, which got accelerated with the additions of several new players.
Junior guard Ari Boyd — a regular in the rotation at Cherry Creek last season — made the move, while Dirden’s daughter Taylor, a sophomore, also got into the school after she played as a freshman at Denver South.
Sophomore Leilani Gordon, who played at St. Mary’s in Colorado Springs last season, arrived as well to join a mix that included only two returning regulars in senior Chloe Davis and sophomore Sailor Roth, plus sophomore reserve Emma Stangle.
Dirden said the non-league schedule had been set up for a team that needed some winnable games and that’s just what Smoky Hill did with six wins in its first seven games, a span in which it held three opponents (Gateway, Palmer and Adams City) in single digits.
The Buffaloes went into winter break with a 6-2 record after a six-point loss to Poudre Dec. 18, then returned from break with four straight wins to reach 10 before the arrival of Centennial League play.
Smoky Hill had lost 23 consecutive conference games dating back to a win against Overland on Feb. 16, 2022, and had to face a Cherry Creek team it hadn’t beaten in more than two decades and lost to by 47 last season.
That’s what made a 53-45 home win Jan. 21 so sweet, as Boyd (who has scored in double figures in all 14 games and is averaging 23.1 points per game) poured in 28 points against her former team, Taylor Dirden had nine points and 13 rebounds and Gordon accounted for eight in the victory.
“The players, the staff and the administration were super excited and they were throwing water around when I got into the lockerroom,” Dirden said.
Dirden emphasized that to truly turn the corner into a successful program, lingering on wins or losses has to be brief and the focus must turn quickly.
“I keep telling them, this isn’t a 30-day lease, the rent is due every single day” he said. “They are buying into that.”
Smoky Hill had its winning streak snapped with a four-point road loss Jan. 24 at Eaglecrest, yet another team off to an outstanding start, while it played Cherokee Trail to within two points for a half before a competitive loss Jan. 28.
The Centennial League as a whole was extremely healthy ahead of conference play, as five of the eight programs (Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Overland and Arapahoe in addition to Smoky Hill) had double-digit wins, while the three that didn’t (defending 6A state champion Grandview, Cherry Creek and Mullen) all have healthy traditions and started their respective seasons against especially tough competition.
Overland is also off to a remarkable start —12-4 — given its history, though it has not experienced a turnaround as dramatic as Smoky Hill.
Coach Wondame Davis’ team had won double digits in the three previous seasons, but its start gives it plenty of time to take a run at matching or bettering the 18-win team from 2007-08.
The Trailblazers opened Centennial League play with a 52-49 win over Mullen, which had won the last 10 meetings between the teams by an average margin of victory of 43 points.
A streak that began after Overland’s three-point win on Feb. 14, 2018, came to end when junior Michaela Halton tallied a game-high 24 points and helped seal the result at the free throw line.
Eaglecrest has a new look with the arrival of transfers Kennedy and Kiarra Spellman and a new coaching staff that has forged a 13-3 start, while Cherokee Trail has established itself as a championship contender with a 14-2 start — which included a loss to 14-1 Arapahoe in a powerhouse Centennial League opener followed by wins over Grandview and Smoky Hill.
Behind Ava Chang and the emergence of fellow junior Sorrelle Kamgang, Grandview (8-8) has been more than competitive in the wake of the graduation of superstar Sienna Betts following the program’s third state championship in four seasons.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports