When most people think of New Year's resolutions, it's hard to cut down the list to a few manageable ones to focus on.

That's not the case for the Judge Memorial girls' basketball team.

The resolution, coach Jeremy Chatterton said, is, simply, keep it up. There's not a whole lot for the coach to complain about as his Bulldogs have raced to a 10-0 start before a game Tuesday with Delta.

Their smallest margin of victory is eight and the most points they have allowed is 46 -- both came Dec. 21 against Wasatch. Judge recently took its show on the road to the Nike Tournament of Champions in Pheonix and played larger schools from Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma.

No problem for Judge, as it buzzed through each game to win the tournament in its division. By winning by an average of 25 points in each game, Judge rode its defense and Erica Martinez's scoring to the championship. Martinez was named the tournament MVP.

"The two teams in the semis and the championship," Chatterton said, "we came out and took them out of what they wanted to do early."

Judge has been able to do whatever it wants to early in the season. But Chatterton's hope for its team is that it maintains its current tear entering region.

Winning handily in preseason play is nice, but it doesn't matter if the team falters inside the region. That means games against undefeated Morgan on Thursday and rival Juan Diego next week will be intense contests with playoff implications.

Martinez, who is averaging 25.5 points, surely will have a large impact on any result. Mikelle Mancini (10.9 points per game) will as well. But Chatterton will rely just as heavily on Sekola Falemaka and Jackie Stults because of their contributions on the other end of the floor.

"Those two defensively inside have really come into their own," he said.

West

As little as Judge has to resolve in the new year, coach Ronnie Stubbs and his West girls' basketball team is in a different position. At 1-6 before Tuesday's game against Cottonwood, the message that Stubbs is passing on to his players is to work hard and be patient.

"We just have a bunch of young kids," Stubbs said. "They're not super basketball players -- they just work hard. "The hard work usually pays off down the road."

West could already be reaping what they've sown. The Panthers began the season with horrifically lopsided losses to Riverton, Brighton and Olympus. But then came a four-point loss to Bountiful and a respectable losing effort to Box Elder.

After losing big to Judge, West snatched its first win from East by one point. Stubbs is happy with his team's progress, especially on defense. After giving up more than 50 points in its first three games, West hasn't done so since.

But Stubbs knows that limiting an opponent's scoring alone won't win enough games. His team has to find a way to increase its 25-point scoring average.

"I think we need to run a little bit," Stubbs said. "If you get up and down the court you get more shots."

However Stubbs gets the offense cranking, his trigger-person will be Rickie Gregg. Stubbs wishes he could put the senior in more of a scoring role considering her ability to fill the hoop. But what works best for West is to have Gregg running the point, which limits her scoring opportunities.

Stubbs hopes the recent move will bring along the talents of Shrae Wynn and Mariel Wirthlin to carry the scoring load.