With a lot of young talent and very few returning players, the girls basketball team came into the season as underdogs, yet they proved everyone wrong with another state appearance.
“We actually only had one returning starter, so there was definitely growing pains with the team just because of how many people hadn’t played together yet,” senior Amelia (Millie) Dieckman said. “It was really cool to see how we kind of came together, and I would say by like halfway through the season, we were playing really well.”
In order for the team to play well, a lot of underclassmen had to do their part to help the team succeed.
“Just learning to play with each other because we lost so many people from last year…was the hardest part,” Dieckman said. “We had to have a lot of freshmen step up really quick, and they did, which was really, really cool to see.”
One underclassman who played a crucial part of the team was freshman Addi Jones.
“We just had a lot of underclassmen who aren’t used to playing high school and just aren’t as familiar with the game as the upperclassmen were, so we had to adjust quickly,” Jones said. “As an underclassman, I controlled what I could control, and I did my best to play my role every game.”
Another underclassman who contributed to the team’s success was freshman Jersey Siske.
“It was super cool to see the team do so well with so many young players. I really had to step up in order for us to win, especially in those really close games,” Siske said. “[I think we] proved a lot of people wrong as the season went on…and surprised a ton of people.”
This was shown throughout the season, as they upset a few teams that they were never expected to beat. A few highlights were defeating both Malcolm and Bishop Neumann.
“Playing Bishop Neumann was another one of my favorite games, and it was cool because Bishop Neumann was a really good team, and they had only lost one girl from last year,” Dieckman said. “It was really cool that we could hang with them and then end up beating them.”
Despite having the odds stacked against them, they were able to achieve this success during the regular season because of their teamwork.
“The girls loved each other and didn’t care about individual successes. We also had incredible leaders. Millie, Mylee (Tichota) and JT (Jenna Trent) were outstanding leaders for our team,” head coach Clay Carlton said.
Because the team was able to surprise themselves with wins over highly ranked teams, they were even more thrilled to start their post season hosting the district final game, defeating Southern Valley 51-41.
“[I felt] a lot of joy, [and was] very grateful because if you told me going in to the season that we would make it to a district final game, I would’ve said you’re crazy,” junior Mylee Tichota said. “I’m super proud of the team in kind of taking what we had, running with what we had and making something out of it.”
Although the season ended sooner than they hoped with a loss against Crofton 28-53 in the first round of the state tournament, junior Jenna Trent was very grateful for the opportunity to play at state again.
“Being back at state again was really cool for me because this year, I had such a bigger role on the team,” Trent said. “I really saw how much we deserved to be there and how much work we put in to get there.”
All the work the team put in paid off in ways they didn’t expect, as making it to state with this new of a team was a big feat.
“I loved this team. We had great leadership and girls that showed up and wanted to work hard and get better every day,” Carlton said. “Being able to end the season in Lincoln at the state tournament was a huge accomplishment as well.”
Looking to next year’s season, the team is looking to build off of this year’s success and make it even farther.
“One big goal is making it back to the state tournament and then hopefully getting a win at the state tournament again,” Tichota said. “We now have that experience, so it’s something that I really think that we can do next year.”
