Lady Eagle Seniors Prepare for State Game
©The Talon News | Annabel Thorpe
Argyle basketball teams celebrate their season’s achievements at the pep rally on Mar. 3, 2015 in the AHS gymnasium. (Annabel Thorpe / The Talon News)
March 4, 2015
Determined. The seniors of the Lady Eagle basketball team used this one word to describe their team. As they move forward to the state tournament, it is this word that has stuck with them as seniors Claire Betzhold, Delaney Sain, Jesse Sheridan, and Madison Stapleton prepare for their last games in high school.
“Last year we made it to state, and it was just kind of surreal because we weren’t expected to,” captain Delaney Sain said. “But, this year we felt like we were expected to, so I think everyone was extremely determined.”
After coming home with a second place win at last year’s state tournament, the team’s eyes were set on one goal. A basketball state championship. With this goal in mind, the team has spent months in preparation for this moment.
“We have this goal of winning state,” Betzhold said, “but we know that it’s achievable and that we can get there with hard work.”
Hard work is an understatement as the girls’ team has spent hours-on-end every week at practices and games in order to prepare. The work pays off as shown by the team’s impressive 30 win and 5 loss season. All this time together has made the team stronger than ever as they move forward to this coming weekend.
“I think this is the closest the team has ever been,” captain Jesse Sheridan said.
This closeness is shown on and off the court as the team cohesively works together to go through the season.
“I think because we had so many away games this year it made it more fun since we got to go out to eat and stay in hotel rooms,” Stapleton said. “It all really paid off with us bonding.”
When seeing the team play, it is easy to tell how well they get along with one another. A game is not played without Sheridan’s routine piece of gum given by junior Olivia Gray or sophomore Jocelyn Pierce popping the girls’ backs in the locker room or the senior girls pre-game prayer. All of these rituals have made for a team that knows one another as well as they know themselves. All of this bonding, however, has the girls not ready for the season to end.
“Once you’re with a team, and you have goals, and you grow together, you kind of miss being around them,” Sheridan said. “So, I know once this is all over it’s just going to be different. I know I’ll always cheer for them and that they’ll cheer for us wherever we go, but it’ll be sad leaving them.”
But with the season not over yet, the girls are preparing for their last tournament of the year as they leave Wednesday, Mar. 4 for San Antonio. Though still unsure of how the season will end, the seniors of the Lady Eagle basketball team had one thing to say about this weeks state game:
“We’re ready.”
