Wheaton girls hoops sees improvement through season
By Kyle Troutman ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
With only two seniors and a slew of underclassmen, the Wheaton girls basketball team knew there would be growing pains this year.
While the Lady Bulldogs went 4-23 on the season, Coach Jessica Dermott said the record does not reflect the amount of growth the team made in those 27 games.
“The girls overall improved as the season progressed,” she said. “I am proud of their growth being such a young team. Individual improvement was where the most growth happened.”
The Lady Bulldogs’ season began with a win over Southwest, 49-47, and Wheaton picked up wins over Northeast Vernon County and New Covenant Academy in December. The Lady Bulldogs’ final win came on Jan. 29, a 34-29 victory over Lighthouse Sr. High sandwiched between 10-game and 6-game winless streaks.
Dermott said though the adversity this season, the most exciting points of the year came when the Lady Bulldogs played to their potential.
“The most exciting thing is when they would play/do what they are capable of doing, and it was awesome to coach and see their improvement,” Dermott said. “[We still need work on] learning to play a full game and win those games this season they couldn’t pull out because they were learning how to play every quarter.”
Leaving the squad will be a pair of seniors, Kauseng Hang and Hailey Vandergift, who Dermott said will be missed.
“[They played] their entire careers not quitting and knowing their roles on the team,” she said.
Wheaton will be young again next season, with only one junior on the team, Bailee Gorman, and three sophomores, Jaycie Park, Genie Huang and Raelyn Buckhannan.
“I’m excited to see these girls grow playing pretty much freshman all the time with a couple sophomores,” Dermott said. “We were a very young team. Growth needs to continue to happen by getting girls to buy into what is expected of them and finishing those close losses with wins next season.”
While continued growth is the main focus for Wheaton, Dermott said she’s proud of what the team was able to accomplish this season.
“[I am] proud of what these girls did this season and can’t wait to see them continue to improve,” she said.
