**Guest Blogger**
Eric Hendrickson
Game 1 - 12/5/20
We had our first 5th-6th grade girls (in our case we have (2) 4th graders also) basketball game. Coach Kris, Coach Steve, and I have spent the past month preparing the girls for today.
We have 10 girls on the team and all are to get equal playing time so I equally split our girls into (2) 5 person teams and play each for alternating 4 minute time blocks.
During the pre-game, the girls expressed some timidity because the other team was mostly sixth graders and were significantly taller than us. I told them to out hustle them and that would equalize the height.
Phoebe played post so she was on the tallest girl. We started out the game with a full court layup and held the lead the entire game. Phoebe played great and I called her the Dominator after the game.
She did a great job of rebounding and forced (7) jump balls, got on the ground to get loose balls, showed a lot of hustle, and played excellent defense. She also made a few baskets.
We have a lot to improve upon, but it was a good first game. We won 16-12.
Game 2 - 12/12/20
Stacee wasn't at this game and my phone was used to live stream the game, so no pictures. We played a good team and we played them pretty well. Unfortunately, we lost 10-2. It was a 2 point game until the last quarter. Unfortunately, we couldn't make any baskets. Nothing to hang our heads; we played a good game.
Phoebe scored our only basket.
Game 3 - 1/9/21
Phoebe and I were out with Covid so we missed this game. We won against this Mulvane team.
Game 4 - 1/23/21
We played against another Haysville team today.
We started with a man defense but stopped running it after the first period. I prefer to run a man defense but it has been unsuccessful this year.
Coach Kris and I were talking to the girls about playing with some energy as they were flat.
It wasn't the teams best effort today but we did win 12-4. Phoebe didn't score but had some good rebounds and played aggressively.
Game 5 - 1/30/21
We got to finish out the season with a double header. The first game was against the best team in the league.
The opposing team had a girl who was very good. I knew this prior to the game, so we implemented a new defense. The defense is a box and one. Four girls play a zone and one plays a man on man against there best player. When Phoebe was in, she was playing the man to man position because she is our best defender.
As you can see, the other team was much taller than us. We probably gave up 20 points from them getting easy put backs from offensive rebounds.
We scored the first basket of the game but were down 20-2 after the first period. Coach Kris and I made it clear that we had to out hustle the other team. For the most part, we did out hustle them the rest of the game. The ending score was 31-8. Lack of rebounding and the ability to make easy shots is what hurt us the most. Overall, I thought they played well.
Above, Phoebe, Shawna, Haylee, and Abigail
Game 6 - 1/30/21
The girls had to play right after the next game. They were a little tired and it showed.
It was a disappointing game. This was a team we could have beat but ended up losing 12-6.
We ended up the season 3-3. We were a young team. There are three girls (Payton, Abigail, and Illysia) that are moving on to 7th grade, so the rest of the girls should be back next year. Thanks for a fun year girls and coaches.
Back Row (left to right): Me, Hayden, Phoebe, Haylee, Payton, Abigail, Coach Kris
Front Row (left to right): Chloe, Grace, Shawna, Shae, Illysia, and Coach Steve
