A 20 point loss is not typically how any team wishes to start off a new season. The SHS girls basketball team experienced a loss of this caliber in their first game of the season against Fishers High School on when they lost on Nov. 4, 2017 by 27.

The Lady Cards took another tough hit in their loss against Hamilton Southeastern by 35 points for their second game of the season.

However, just after their first two games, the Lady Cards very quickly began to cut their losing deficits by a large number.

“I mean it was our first two games and so, we didn’t have a lot of sets (plays) yet and I don’t think we really played a lot as a team,” sophomore Lexie Green said. “We also played some of the top teams in the state, so it being our first two games, it was just a lot to handle.”

In their third game of the season, the Lady Cards lost to Franklin Community by seven points, and then lost to New Palestine by three. The Cardinals then held their next two opponents within five points until they faced Arsenal Technical, and defeated them immensely by 21 points.

The Lady Cards went 5-17 in the regular season, but a handful of the games they lost, they only lost by a very weak number of points, in fact, they had nine single-digit losses.

“I mean obviously you’d like to win more games…” Head Coach Adam Morelock said. “I think we were playing our best basketball at the end of the year, so that’s ultimately where you want to be.”

As the season went on, the Lady Cards fought hard and held several of their opponents to a nail biting lead. In all nine of their single-digit losses, the Lady Cards lost by seven points or less.

Junior point guard Ashley Raisor, says she feels as if the team has improved a lot throughout this season, and that even though they didn’t win as many games as they would’ve liked, Raisor believes that they pushed the ball up the court well, ran plays appropriately and listened to their coach.

However, Raisor and Green both say that there were things the team could’ve done better.

“We didn’t play too bad in a lot of games, but we’d only play the first three quarters and not the fourth,” Green said. “Or we’d come out way too slow and then have to try and come back by like 20 points, and that just doesn’t work.”

Raisor believes that the team could’ve cut down on turnovers when needed, and that they needed to finish more on their free throws and layups.

Next season as a senior, Raisor’s personal goals for herself are to raise her shooting percentage and to handle to ball more, while as a junior Green wishes to score more points to help her team win and to become more vocal in order to be a better leader.

Morelock says that he plans to start workouts for next season over spring break in order to begin preparing the girls. 

“We’ll get as many shots up as possible, probably a little bit more of individual and small group workouts this year to try and improve skills,” Morelock said.

Raisor, Morelock and Green all three say that what they will miss the most about this season is the senior class.

“We had a great group of seniors. I mean, you had three players who had given a lot to the program and had done the things that were needed, especially this year, to see us get better and I think they’ll be missed,” Morelock said.