The loud buzz of the buzzer sounds, echoing throughout the gym, signaling the end of the basketball season. The squeaking of gym shoes comes to a halt and the ball stops.
The girls’ basketball had an overall average season this year, taking the win record of 8-15. The team had to start with a partially blank slate, due to most of the team graduating last year.
“We had lost a lot of people last year, so we basically started from scratch this year. And you could just tell from the beginning of the season, just to the end of the season, how much we’ve all improved, how much better we work together,” sophomore Lauren Thomas said.
Toward the end of the season, Thomas felt she and the team were meeting the expectations she had set herself for this season.
Sophomore Zoey Welch found this season as exciting for the young team.
“I tell you, our record was better than it was last season and that’s surprising because, obviously, we’re a new team, and we’re younger. So I would just say our games won were more than last year,” Welch said.
There was only one senior, Neveah Cartwright, on the girls’ basketball team this year.
“Being the only senior on the team, it’s bittersweet. I like being the leader, but I also sometimes feel like I need someone else to help me most of the time, because I am pretty shy,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright felt the team had one goal which was to win. Cartwright worked to build in more team bonding activities this year to help the young team.
As the season came closer to the end, the girls started to see their hard work pay off.
“Our best game would be either the Hoover game or the Strongville game, everybody did well individually, so that way it was just better as a team,” Welch said.
Thomas found her favorite game was playing at home vs. McKinley this year.
“It is just always so electric, and it’s always so fun to play, and it was a double-headed game, so the boys are playing right after us,” Thomas said. “We had a great game. We did lose, but it was a great game. We played so well together and it was nice to have everybody there supporting us.”
