Coach Dave McNeil presented awards to six girls varsity basketball players during the team’s annual awards banquet Feb. 21.
Earning the Offensive Specialist Award were senior April Underwood and senior Kayla Miller. Junior Shahalie Erickson was named Most Improved, and junior Anna Coleman won the Sportsmanship Award. The Defensive Specialist Award went to senior Rachel Busek and junior Sydney Mauer.
In his background, “defense has always been No. 1, the foundational pillar you build off,” McNeil said. Over the past two years, the coaching staff has worked on that defense with the team and is now turning to the offensive side.
Two players have helped “to cement our group” with their defense and will help the team going forward, he said. That’s Busek and Mauer.
On offense, Underwood spent a lot of the season sidelined with an injury, McNeil said, but when she was on the floor she could penetrate and demonstrated shooting prowess going to the hoop.
Miller could take it left or right and produced a lot of of points taking the ball to the left side, McNeil said.
Erickson is someone who has come a long way in two years, McNeil said.
Coleman “is literally the embodiment of grace,” McNeil said, noting that she never talks back to officials or in practice, and she “played the game for the love of it.”
The girls won their first game since 2016 this year, and the team showed a lot of improvements, McNeil said. “We still have challenges to overcome.”
Often this year, the team lost games in a single lopsided quarter, and McNeil is looking for the team to start putting together four solid quarters going forward.
Defense is pretty strong, he said. “As more of the fundamentals are locked into place, the offense and defense will get stronger.”
The junior varsity was 11-12 this season, and McNeil credited some of that success to getting girls into the program early.
Last summer, the coaches took all of the eighth graders and ran them through a summer program, he said. They conditioned and practiced with the high school girls. He plans to further increase the number of camps next summer.
The key is fundamentals, he said. Everything after that is strategy, but it must be built on mastery of the fundamentals, which helps keep players “calm under pressure.”
Earning their first letters in basketball this year were Erickson and Busek, who transferred from another district.
Earning their second letters were juniors Mauer, Alana Silver, Coleman and Kennedi Waldrop, and seniors Kelika Aiona, April Underwood and Abby Underwood.
Miller earned her third letter.
On the junior varsity, Offensive Specialist awards went to freshmen Rebekah Belcher and Natalie Rodgers. Most Improved went to sophomores Gracie Stutzman and Kirsten Watkins, and Belcher. Rodgers won the Defensive Specialist Award. Junior Christina Belcher won the Sportsmanship Award and was honored for Best Work Ethic.