Brian Cosgriff, coach of the girls basketball team, wants his team to be prepared for the remaining games and the possibility of the Minn. state tournament.

So he pitted them against boys.

“I’ve been doing it for years. Colleges do it all the time,” Cosgriff said.

Drew Sension, senior was the first one to be contacted by Cosgriff with the opportunity. After contacting a few of his friends that he played intramural with, Sension formed a team. They will scrimmage against the girls basketball team for the next few weeks.

“I was excited, I held tryouts and everything,” joked Sension.

While the boys are not currently on the varsity basketball team, four of the six boys – Sension, Nick Mandler, Ryan Miller, and Erik Jansa, seniors – are former members of the Hopkins boys basketball program.

Aezha Reed, junior guard for the Royals, thinks that playing against boys is good for the team.

“The boys are very physical which is great because it shows us what we’ll be going up against in the tournament,” Reed said. “It also gives a chance to learn plays from opposing teams.”

Cosgriff scouted the other girls basketball teams and learned what plays they run most often. During these practices, the boys run those plays to help the team specifically prepare for their opponents.

“It felt like old times, memorizing plays and stuff like that,” Jansa said. “It’s fun to help out the school or the team even if it’s just in practice.”