It’s very exciting news for our Lady Applemen basketball team as they create school history advancing to the state tournament. After a tough and competitive game against Martinsburg, the team clutched a well earned win of 50-36. This year’s team of ladies is the first in Musselman history to advance to the state tournament. These girls have put in countless amounts of effort, time, and compassion for the sport this season.
Senior and varsity captain, Sarah Price, says that this season has been “amazing” and that the team came together and “achieved goals I didn’t think we expected of ourselves.” As a captain, Sarah takes pride in her position and exudes leadership.
“Some of my goals were bringing the team together as a family, good communication, and encouraging the underclassmen to strive to do their best,” Price states.
Like the rest of the team, Sarah was very excited about the recent win. She tells us that “all of our coaches kept up good energy” and were “very optimistic” making the game come easy to the team.
Under the coaching of Tim Potter, these ladies were able to achieve such an impressive season. This is only Potter’s first year as head coach, and things are looking bright. He tells us that it feels “fantastic” to accomplish this much in just the first year.
“The buy in from everyone working together has been paying off big time! Not only setting up the opportunity for success this year, but for the next year coming up as well!” Potter states. He also explains that sticking together and believing in each other contributed to the teams regional win.
Besides this group of lady’s hard work to achieve such a successful season, including advancing to states, the team has had some very exciting news. Senior, Kaylee Deluca, has officially committed to further her academic and athletic career playing basketball for Bethany College. Ciara Puller, senior varsity player, tells us that she’s been playing alongside Kaylee ever since they were little.
“I think Kaylee brings out a funny personality which allows us to bond and work well together…she works hard and aggressively, her energy is a good asset to our team,” Puller explains.
Kaylee has been playing for 10 years, and exclaims that she’s very excited to continue playing at Bethany College, as she can’t imagine a life without the sport. She tells us that her favorite thing about the sport has to be “the person the sport has molded me into, it’s made me strong, mature, and independent”,emphasizing on the lessons it has taught her. When asked for her advice to underclassmen, Deluca states that the most valuable thing is to believe in yourself and to “understand that progress is progress no matter how small”.
Many exciting things are happening for the Lady Applemen basketball team. The team’s hard work, dedication, and strong team bond has played off as they create Applemen history.