Sky Chappell
The Sweet Home Girls Basketball program has had a season of learning and growth. With a first-year coach at the helm, head coach Erika Evans has faced challenges. But more than anything, she has reinforced one specific goal.
“As I’ve said all year, our main goal going into this season was to move the needle each practice and game,” Evans said. Early in the season, the team established what a win would look like for them as a team prior to every game. As Evans said, “Which many times was not going to be a win on the scoreboard. As tough as it is, that’s something that we had to accept and be willing to buy into.”
Although she acknowledged that the season would be an uphill battle, she also complimented her team for their foundational year of building whilst in a very tough league, stating, “It made a season with a lot of hard opponents a season where we were able to see an astronomical amount of growth.”
Tuesday, Feb. 20, the team faced Stayton (18-4) at home. Reflecting on the season’s final game, Evans said, “Stayton is a very well developed program that plays super fundamental and collegiate-like basketball. We struggle[d] as a team with our ability to create individual scoring opportunities, which showed against their solid man defense.” As the SHHS team (1-19) closed the season with a 6-60 score, the pride in the team’s effort and the spirit of the game overshadowed the final outcome. “We were happy to be celebrating our seniors and ensuring that everyone got lots of minutes in our last game of the season. I’m really proud of how we fought for rebounds and possession of loose balls in this game.”
As the future progresses, Evans has drawn out goals for her future seasons and the team’s further development, stating, “First thing the girls need is some time off. We will look to get back in the gym together in the spring and work on individual/position fundamentals that we don’t have time for on a daily basis during the season. Focusing on individual scoring ability and creating space from our defenders, making basketball IQ reads, and watching more high level basketball.”
The team takes a lot out of watching film according to Evans, which the team has enjoyed reflecting on collegiate games and their own.
Along with spring work in the gym, Evans said, “We plan to play lots of summer ball and attend the OSU Team camp as a program to get some more competitions in as well.” The focus however, does not end with high school students. Evans stated, “I am [also] working with some of our younger girls in the community this spring on a travel team, working on developing some of our younger athletes that will be with us in a few years.”