Harrison girls reflect on nine-win season

by BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

There was plenty to be happy about for the Harrison girls’ basketball team this winter. Unfortunately, the way things ended wasn’t one of them, as they lost on a last second shot against Pinconning in their Division 3 district opener, 47-44.

“This year was very tough,” third year head coach Ryan Carlstrom said. “We lost on a buzzer beater in the first round of districts. Nobody likes going out that way. I thought we fought, played our hardest, we just came up short.”

The Hornets finished the year 9-13 overall; the same amount of wins as last year, but in three fewer games.

“(We had a) big win on senior night,” Carlstrom said of season highlights. “Senior night was a really fun one for me. We were able to give the seniors a win on their last home game. And just seeing the whole team come together as one for them was amazing. We had all obviously hoped to be able to finish better. We competed in a lot of close games and were able to have fun all year. There were many valuable lessons learned this season that will go a lot further in life than wins and losses. All these girls will always be winners to me.”

The Hornets will graduate five seniors from the team this season; a group that has been responsible for the program’s improved play in the last few years.

“I just want to express my gratitude towards all of them,” Carlstrom aid of the seniors. “They were all sophomores on varsity three years ago when I took over and they stuck it out and continued to get better. I told them after our last game, that we have been through the mud together. They helped turn around a program that in all honesty wasn’t the greatest and turned it into one that deserves some recognition. I will forever be grateful for this senior bunch and I am excited to see what their future holds for them.”

Carlstrom pointed out the solid leadership of Lydia Kendall, Hayley Neff, Janessa O’Day and Dakota O’Day; four players that helped guide the team in multiple ways.

“Lydia was an amazing team captain and was more than willing to do whatever was asked of her, she is someone girls in the program looked up to and she has been a great role model,” Carlstrom said. “Hayley had an outstanding season. She was there for each and every one of her teammates when they needed her. She was an amazing hype girl and her energy was contiguous. We are truly lucky to have had a girl like her in the program. Janessa was a four-year player and showed huge growth each year. She loved the pressure and to handle the ball. Which is something you don’t see a lot. And I know all of her teammates enjoyed that too. Dakota has a season she hoped to never have. She was sidelined most of the season recovering from a knee injury from her freshman year. Going into the season, we had no idea if we would get her at all. Even knowing that, Dakota showed up to every game and practice to be there for her teammates. She worked on different skills off to the side and was intensely watching practice and asking me questions. She was really like a sponge, and it was awesome. Dakota was able to play the last bit of the season and everyone on the team welcomed her back. Dakota is a special player and I’m excited to see what the next two years bring her.”

The coach added some final thoughts on this season and some insights on next year as well.

“We all wanted to do better than what we did, but the girls got better every day, and we were able to compete in every game this year,” Carlstrom said. “We are taking huge strides as a program and these seniors are a big part of that. (We want to) continue to improve and find some new girls to step up. So, we gotta play a lot of games this off season and live in the gym. We lost five girls and it won’t be easy to replace them. It is far too early to tell (about next year). We have some good pieces to the puzzle next year. We just have to be able to put them together.”

© Clare County Cleaver