Varsity Girls Basketball
2012-13 Season Wrap-Up
The Westview Lady Warrior basketball team began this season with
two goals—to make steady improvement, and to win a sectional. With the
season now complete, they are happy
to say that their to-do list is empty.
After a difficult start, the young Warriors earned a record of 15-9 en route
to capturing the seventh sectional
crown in the program’s history. Their
season came to a close on Feb. 16 with
a 71-47 loss to the fifth-ranked Fort
Wayne Bishop Luers in the semi-final
of the Rochester regional.
Amber Roth moves
down the court with
several Knights
right behind her in
the Regional Game
against FW Luers on
Sat., Feb. 16, 2013.
In many ways, this season was a
new beginning for the Warriors, who
had several new faces and just one senior on the roster. “There were a lot of
unknowns with just two players back
from last year with much experience,”
said head coach Randy Yoder. “We felt
the potential was there for a pretty
good basketball team.”
Unlocking that potential was a
challenge the coaches really enjoyed.
“It was definitely fun,” said coach
Yoder. “They were very coachable and
pg 22 · The Hometown Treasure · March ‘13
By: Ryan Yoder
simply wanted to get better as a basketball team.” He added, “Every player
in our program is an honor student,
and they did a good job of learning
everything we threw at them.”
The Warriors were forced to learn
fast as they opened the season with a
brutal schedule. They went 1-4 over
their first five games with losses to Wawasee, Elkhart Memorial, Goshen, and
Northridge. During this stretch, coach
Yoder thinks the team’s youth was
actually a blessing in disguise. “We
got blown out in a few games, but this
team was young enough that it didn’t
even faze them,” he said. “They were
very resilient and wanted to eventually dominate teams like teams were
dominating them.”
By the sixth game of the season,
things began to turn for the Warriors,
and they rattled off 11 wins in their
next 14 games. They hoped to carry
the momentum from their strong
second-half into the sectional tournament, but in the final game of the
regular season, they dropped a 58-57
heartbreaker to West Noble after leading by 20 in the first half. The Warriors
lost on a buzzer beater that seemed to
dance over every part of the rim before
dropping through. Just like earlier
in the year, the team was forced to
grow stronger through a loss. “We felt
that we had outplayed a good team on
their floor,” said coach Yoder, “and that
experience, even though it was difficult
at the time, made us more determined
than ever to win sectional the following week.”
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The Warriors needed every drop
of that determination to complete
their sectional run. In the first round,
after shooting a dismal 20 percent
from the field for the first three and a
half quarters, they found themselves
trailing Central Noble by six with just
two minutes remaining. Sophomore
Sidney Byrkett grabbed a steal and a
lay-up, and freshman Grace Hales hit
two late threes to rally the team to
overtime where they pulled out a 47-41
win. In the semi-final, the Warriors
again struggled to hit shots and trailed
Fremont in the fourth quarter before a
three by junior Amber Roth gave them
a one-point lead, and they eventually
Sports photos
by Abby Wenger
Sidney Byrkett makes her move toward
the basket in the Championship Round
of Sectionals against LaVille on Sat., Feb.
9, 2013.
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