Lady Heat look back on season

Scott Wigton

What was your favorite moment from this year’s basketball season?

Being able to start off the season with some struggles, going into Christmas 1-5, and being one game away form the district tournament at the end, winning that consolation game against Noxon and giving ourselves at least an opportunity to play in a challenge game and go to divisionals.

What was your team’s biggest challenge? How did they respond?

I think our biggest challenge was that for the last two seasons, we’ve been hit with pretty heavy senior classes that have depleted us. If you lose two seniors in back-to-back years like we did, it’s going to leave some big shoes to fill. I think that with having this group that I’ve got now, allowed us to get quite a few of the underclassmen in there. I had a couple freshman that played really well, I had juniors and sophomores that played really well and that bodes well for the future.

In what areas did you see the most improvement?

At the beginning of the season, it was very selfish and individualized and it was about what was going on with each person individually, but by the end it was how we worked as a team and I think that that’s just something that we continued to preach all year long.

Another aspect of that I thought we improved on statistically was turnovers.

At the beginning of the season, probably the first quarter, we averaged about 30-34 turnovers a game and in the district turnover we averaged 16. I think that can be attributed to just playing better and being more confident, working into our roles and just having more faith in each other.

When and how did you see the greatest character exhibited by your team?

I kept telling them that when times are tough, true character comes out. I think that when you’re in a situation like we were in with Charlo in the opening round of the tournament, and we got beat 33-5. That’s a pretty low moment for all of us; Charlo controlling every second of that game. But from start to finish we played our butts off. We didn’t check out, I didn’t stop coaching, they didn’t’ stop playing.

That’s when they showed their true character. It was them working as hard as they could, knowing that there was no shot at catching Charlo, but it didn’t matter. They still came out and worked their butts off.

What are you looking forward to the most about next season?

The gym rat, always there, doing stuff attitude is going to return. I think that these kids understand that they’re going to have to put some more time in to get where they want to go, because they were not happy about the way the season went and neither was I. It was disappointing to come off a 20-win season and only have seven. There are some things that are going to need to change. The group that I’ve got right now, that’s going to be returning, they’re already asking when we’re going to start, and that’s huge. You’ve got to have kids that don’t’ want to experience this again and that’s what I’m looking forward to.

Any final thoughts on the season?

I’m appreciative of what the seniors have done the four years. They’re going to be missed. They had a great season. They shouldn’t have their heads. We all struggled at the beginning of the season, but they played about as good as they could and they played as hard as they could and that’s a testament to their personalities. They didn’t give up on each other and they didn’t turn their backs on each other. That’s a testament to the seniors character and I appreciate all the time they put in and off of the kids in general.

I’ve always told them, leave the program better than when you came into it, and they were a part of a pretty good stretch of teams that did leave the program better than when they came in and they were as much a part of that as anybody else.