Note: Polk County girls junior varsity basketball coach Stacey Shields led the Wolverines to a 6-17 record this season, including a thrilling 28-25 win over Hendersonville in the team’s home finale. Shields recapped that game for PolkSports as well as offered thoughts on the season.
We had our own version of Senior Night. Drew Bailey, Maria Bolanos and Alicia Twittiy all got their first starts of the season. These three individuals worked extremely hard all season and have improved immensely.
A couple of minutes into the game, Twitty came out with a right arm injury and didn’t return to the game. Her excitement and enthusiasm from the bench was critical for her team.
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We got off to a slow start against Hendersonville. We had quality looks, but shots weren’t dropping. This resulted in us trailing 16-5 at the half. In the locker room, I told them that those shots would start to fall. I also challenged my team to make this their game, and that is exactly what they did.
We responded with two big quarters, both offensively and defensively. Some of the shots started to drop and the defense stiffened some. That took us into the 4th quarter down 25-14. Near the beginning of the fourth quarter, Bella Marino took an inadvertent elbow to her nose. She came out of the game and was diagnosed with a concussion, thus ending her first JV season.
The team rallied behind their teammate and brought out a stifling defense that held Hendersonville scoreless the entire fourth quarter. We got a few steals and quick points which led to timeouts for both sides. Karli Wood hit a huge 3-pointer that brought the score to 25-22 with under three minutes left. There was an electric feeling in the gym at this point – the adrenaline was pumping through every single player and their coach.
With just under 1:30 left in the game we took the lead when Alana Seay got a rebound and put the shot right back up and in. After two clutch free throws (one by Seay and one by Wood), we were up three points with three seconds left on the clock. After a Hendersonville timeout, they inbounded the ball, but failed to get a shot off.
We won the game because of suffocating defense from Annie Eargle, Haley Fowler and Karli Wood. Marino played with a fearless leader mentality. She drew fouls and played her most aggressive and physical game of the season. The rebounding and putback points from Alana Seay, Rosie Castillo and Marissa Longshore were crucial to this win. Wood led the team with 10 points (six in the 4th quarter), including her momentum-shifting 3-pointer. After the game Wood said, “That was a three? I didn’t even realize it.”
This has been a great season and an amazing way for me to take the next step in my coaching career. The girls left everything on the court and I couldn’t ask for more. It has been an honor and a pleasure to coach each and every one of them this season!
