The girls’ varsity basketball team’s season ended last week with a 63-26 loss to state powerhouse Birmingham Marian in the first round of the District playoffs.
And even though the team finished 3-17, players still felt that the season had its successes.“I thought that in general we were a great team,” senior Emma Davis said. “Our record might not have shown it, but we understood how each other played and we were able to grow together.”
Head Coach Steve Hasler agreed.
“One of the things I think I was most proud of this team was [that] they fought through a lot of losses and they really hung in there,” Hasler said. “They just had a good attitude and they continued to work hard.”
Davis said the team will continue to grow and improve.
“We had really big shoes to fill, having had eight seniors graduate last year,” Davis said. “I think as the team continues to improve, they’ll grow to fit those shoes and then some.”
Hasler said the players got better over the course of the season.
“They all improved, that was one of the highlights we had,” Hasler said. “Erin Neuenfeldt and Kathy Quigley were on varsity as freshmen, so this was their second year on varsity and they improved [greatly], but so did the other girls that came up from JV.”
Hasler hopes that this pattern will continue for next year’s season.
“I think they really wanted to just get better as a group,” Hasler said. “Most of them are coming back next year so I’m hoping that they can get better as a group and have a better year next year.”
Though the team was younger than Davis, she felt that the girls really helped her improve.
“I felt that the younger players helped me improve personally because they are all so talented and they challenged me so much,” Davis said. “They put me in my place more than once and as they continue to mature as players they will own the court.”
