The State of Spartan Basketball

I don't use the website for basketball very often, but I think today is a good day to. Our Varsity Girls Basketball team lost a playoff game last week, a game I don't think we should have lost - to a team we've never lost to. I was so upset that our season was over - with a loss - that I think I made a mistake and overlooked another great comeback by the girls, and what was almost a glorious come back. Down 22-6 midway through the 3rd quarter, we came back to lose 27-24. That's an 18-5 run, and under pressure, too. I'm personally disappointed that I missed a chance to praise my girls for such a finish. That's the thing any athlete takes away with them (or should). This game should give us a great work ethic and a refusal to quit. My girls have that, and I'm very happy they do. That's a product of their home environments, their own attitudes, and so on.

10, 20 years from now, what will they take away from this last game? I hope that it was "just another game" they fought valiantly in. That became our trademark, making teams sweat! We took Jefferson to halftime - twice - just a basket away. We came back from being down 18-1 to Old Quarry, cutting it to 27-21. Jefferson averaged over 40 points a game - we held them to 27 once and 32 another. We lost to Old Quarry by an average of 5 points over 5 meetings. What's so special about that? Those teams are a combined 27-3 in conference! And 45-5 over the last 2 years!

We shot only 6% against a team last week, and held them to 18 points. We lost that game, but still held a team below 20 points and got the ball back enough to take 7 good shots inside the last 30 seconds. We lost another two a team that has already played 30 games together as a travel team, but only after trading the lead for 36 of the 40 minutes during that game.

Despite a loss, or a couple in a row, we ended our season fighting. I can't tell you how proud I am of my girls for that. 10, 20 years from now, I won't remember our record, or our trophies, or shooting percentages, but what great girls they are... what great workers, fighters, and teammates they were. They've set a standard for other girls to follow. All future Spartan teams will be held to their standard. They had fun and worked hard. Is there much more to basketball than that?! To Jackie, Anglea, Raven, Jamei, Maura, Bridget, Maddie, Malak, Maddie and Amber - you'll be missed... great season(s), girls!

I'd also like to reference another great coach's blog, which inspired this post, and can also be found on the blogroll directly to the right of this post.