Coming back full force as the winter months start, the girls’ basketball season has begun. After last year’s loss at state, the coaches and players are looking forward to seeing what the new season has in store.
Today the team heads to Platteview, playing a Jamboree game at 5:30 p.m.
“I’m really excited,” junior Taryn French said. “We’ve worked really hard this summer and this fall, and finally our hard work is getting to be used.”
The first-year team went 19-8 in the Metro Conference and got third at State. Now, after switching conferences to the Eastern Midlands Conference, they are ready to prove that the difference in opponents won’t stop them. They all have one goal in mind.
“We all want to make it to State,” senior Hailey Levinson said.
The new conference holds new competition such as Norris, Pius X, Waverly, and District champions, Elkhorn North. To prepare for the new conference, the players have been practicing since summer, with a break once fall sports started. Then in late October, preseason practice started, and on Nov. 19 the team’s first official practice took place.
“Every practice, we are constantly learning something new,” Levinson said.
Because the team had no seniors last year, their team chemistry is already present and they focused on perfecting what they learned last year.
“We basically have the same team coming back,” Head Coach Wade Coulter said. “So we get to practice the same things we did last year while being able to add a couple of in-depth pieces to help us out.”
Coulter has been coaching for nearly 16 years and is alongside Assistant Coach Logan Holle. Through his years of coaching, Coulter has only wanted to lead his team to success. He pushes and motivates them to be the best they can be.
“My goals are the same every year, for us to reach our ceiling,” he said. “I want each individual to be as good as they can possibly be, whatever that is for them.”
But, outside of practices and games, the whole team grew close together. They spend almost their entire winter by each other’s side, which is an important aspect of their success.
“We’re all a tight-knit group, we’re all family,” French said.
The first official game of the season is at home against Duchesne Academy on Dec. 5 at 7:15 p.m.
