After its first playoff appearance and 10-win season in 30 years, the Sweet Home girls basketball team had a lot to celebrate at its March 8 end-of-season banquet at Norden Hall.
For starters, head coach Michelle Knight was named 4A Oregon West Conference Coach of the Year. She credited her staff of Blake Manley, Nick Tyler, Brittany Brownell and Kennedi Waldrop, a crew she assembled rapidly after former assistant coach Andee McCubbins stepped down.
“At the very beginning of the season I didn’t have any coaches,” Knight said. “But I had this amazing team of people join me along the way and I could not have done any of the things that I did without them.”
Three conference awards were also handed out to individual Sweet Home athletes, as well as a number of team honors.
Conference coaches named Brooke Burke to the OWC’s first team, and her own squad voted her Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year. The junior scored 448 points this season while averaging 19 points per game. She also recorded 51 assists, 38 steals and 76 rebounds.
Knight admired Burke’s work ethic.
“She was the first one in the gym,” the coach said. “She would sweep the floors and make sure all of the basketball hoops were lowered. She made sure all of the little things were taken care of. She was the hardest worker in the room and led by example. She wasn’t ever outworked and took every practice seriously.”
Knight suspects the work won’t stop at season’s end, as Burke enters her senior year 39 points shy of 1,000, a career goal she’d set for herself as a freshman. Her prolific scoring this season was highlighted by a career-high 35-point performance against Newport on Jan. 25.
“Brooke works really hard in the offseason,” Knight said. “You don’t just score 35 points in a game accidentally. She’s earned every single second of success that she has in this program.”
Senior post player Adaira Sleutel, a Second Team All-League selection, won Most Inspirational and the Coaches Award for leadership, integrity and coachability.
She wrapped her career with 254 points and 11 points per game, plus 268 rebounds, 41 assists and 35 steals. She plans to play basketball and volleyball at Linn-Benton Community College.
“I kind-of forget what a force Adaira is until I rewatch the film and see she’s working really hard fighting for rebounds while the opponent is double- or triple-teaming her,” Knight said. “Adaira is very special to me. We’ve endured some things over the years, and I’m really proud of her. She’s become an amazing person in addition to being a great basketball player. Basketball is great, but being a great person is even better.”
Following the banquet, Sleutel reflected on her four years with the program, which coincided with Knight’s beginnings as its coach. The team improved from a 1-22 record in 2019 to 7-16 in 2020, then 4-8 in a COVID-19-shortened 2021.
This season the Huskies’ 10-14 showing landed them a playoff appearance and a final home game against second-ranked Cascade in which a last-second three-pointer nudged the Cougars past the upstarts.
“It’s been a rough four years,” Sleutel said, “but this year made it all worth it.”
Kaylynn Mamac, an All-League honorable mention (the only freshman to be recognized in the category), won the Hustle Award. Mamac recorded 91 points and four points per game, in addition to 149 rebounds, 34 steals, 27 assists and 12 charges.
“She’s probably the most coachable kid I’ve ever coached,” Knight said. “Everything we asked her to do, she did it. We’d be like ‘We need you to drive more.’ And then she did and scored like 12 points.”
Senior Mercedes Burks won the Defensive Player of the Year with 42 steals, 12 deflections and four blocks on the season.
“I think it took her a little bit to 100% ‘buy in’ or totally invest, but when she did it was the most amazing moment because she was all in and she was just a beast on defense,” Knight said.
“She was a game changer when she was in the game.”
Senior Chloe Fairchild was voted Most Improved.
The Huskies finished the season 6-6 in the OWC, ultimately ending their season with a loss in a Feb. 26 play-in game to Marshfield.