Bear River’s Junior Varsity Girls Basketball team had their head in the game during their astounding undefeated season.
Following an uneasy set of preseason games, the players powered through and dominated during the league season.
Head Coach Debbie Mulholland recounted her feelings towards the preseason.
“We lost too much for what I wanted,” she said. “I thought we could have won a lot more, but that’s the growing and the building process … [The players] worked really hard preseason with all those losses. I think that they helped build them in their personal games, in their personal growth with basketball. They realized very quickly that they weren’t invincible.”
She has had much experience with coaching basketball.
“At Bear River, this is my second year [coaching],” said Coach Mulholland. “In general, I have been coaching for over fifteen years, but it was always boys. This is the fourth year I have coached girls. This season I was Head Coach, last year I was the assistant coach, so I had full control over the team … This year, I had girls that listened more, that worked harder.”
Team members reflected on their incredible season.
“It felt good because preseason, we didn’t do too well, and then we stepped it up in the normal season,” said Freshman Morgan Peterson, “I think the team dynamic was really good, definitely better than it was before. I got better with teamwork and not just focusing on me.”
“I am happy that we went undefeated,” said Sophomore Suzy Louden, “Everyone got along, and I think we all pushed our limits and did what we needed to do to improve … There were a few setbacks during the season, but we learned to push through them and stay on track.”
Others felt similarly.
“I think we all worked really well together as a team, and it made us all happy,” said Freshman Julia Pisenti. “The year was successful for me because, after my injury, I had more motivation to get back on the court, so I trained a lot, and I think I became better because of my injury.”
“It was really unexpected …” said Junior Grace McDaniel. “There was lots of chatting, everyone was best friends. We all worked together, and that was our goal from the beginning. I had a couple career high games, and I learned how to work better as a wing instead of a post … it was helpful. It was an amazing season, and I think the main reason is because we had such a great coach.”
Coach Mulholland shared how she felt about the extraordinary season and coaching the team.
“It was awesome, the girls played great … I got lucky with some very good athletes and basketball players,” she said. “My favorite part of coaching is watching them grow, watching them learn, watching them take what I’m teaching them and then actually do it on the floor. That is definitely the highlight because you don’t coach for the money, you coach because you want to watch them grow as players and as human beings.
