Top Row: Coach Rader, Tae Eun Uhm, Olena Vasyltsova, Jackie Kim, Sarah Wilson, Tatiana Laroche, Coach Chan, Coach Bertken; Bottom Row: Susan Park, Lauren Ryu, Kaitlyn Lee, Alice Park, Sarah Baek
1. Alice Park guards her zone as she plays defense against an opposing player from KIS. The home game against KIS was a heated game, but the girls took home a win. 2. Kate Youn, Sarah Wilson, Tatiana Laroche, Kaitlyn Lee, and Lauren Ryu watch the game from the benches. Even off the court,
players had to concentrate and keep up with plays.
3. Olena Vasyltsova breaks through KIS’ man-toman defense. Other teammates hustled to their positions to run an offensive play. 4. As she gets possession of the ball, Sarah Baek prepares to pass to a teammate. Sarah was the only middle schooler on the team. 5. Tae Eun Uhm watches the point guard as she protects the paint. The girls played zone defense against Dwight. 6. Sarah Wilson runs to her offensive position as one of the point guards, Jackie, brings the ball down the court. Most often, Sarah played forward position on offense.
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Undeniably, the basketball season centered around senior Olena Vasyltsova, the supportive pillar of the team whose injury and remarkable comeback defined the season.
With a successful start, the team won most of their games through the leadership of their star player. However, near the middle of the season, an unexpected event hit the team.
“ All of a sudden, during one of our drills, I turned around and saw Olena on the ground. It all happened so quickly,” Alice Park, recalled.
Olena has a torn ligament which“ took at least three to six months to heal properly”. Despite not being able to play, Olena worked harder to get back on the court early.“ I really wanted to play. As a senior, this was my last season. I went to therapy, I swam every day, I tried to heal as fast as possible”.
Without Olena, the pressure load shifted towards co-captain, Jackie Kim, who admitted,“ In the beginning, it was really hard to cope with Olena gone.”
With their main scorer injured, all the players worked harder to fill her spot. This“ meant a lot of the newcomers that weren’ t starters got to play which was good experience for them, but hard to manage”, said Olena.
“ Susan improved like crazy. Her layups just kept going in, and her scoring average per game skyrocketed,” remarked fellow teammate, Alice.
Near the end of the season, Olena’ s injury improved.
Kaitlyn Lee pointed out that right“ after she got better, she put an ankle brace on her leg and got back into the game.”“ I played in Jeju and I played in KAIAC. Of course, I was kind of limping while playing, it wasn’ t that good and it might have even hindered the team,” laughed Olena.
However, with their leader back on the court, the team pushed past limitations, growing emotionally and mentally stronger. The girls won four games in KAIAC and all of their games in Jeju.
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