In her last season as a SHS cardinal, senior Miranda Deane is having her best season, with the stats to back it up.

Deane began playing basketball early on in her life, starting in the third grade. She has continued playing ever since. Deane has tried other sports, but she has not fallen in love with any of them like she did basketball.

“It (basketball) looked fun and interesting,” Deane said. “I was trying many different sports and that was the one I enjoyed the most.”

Playing on a varsity team in high school is a feat only achieved by a few students, but being a varsity player in Indiana, which is known for basketball, is achieved by working harder than everyone else.  Especially when students don’t seem to care about girls basketball, according to Deane.

On the national level, the NBA is more popular than the WNBA. The WNBA averaged 306,000 viewers, while the NBA averaged 1,439,000 viewers, according to ESPN Pressroom. 

“Most students only care about the boys team,” Deane said. “I would definitely say we have to work harder to get the recognition we deserve.”

Being a senior, the underclass varsity players and the junior varsity players look up to Deane as a leader on the court and off the court. As a second year captain, she sets the example for the rest of the team to follow.

“She is an on the court leader, she is a locker room leader,” head coach Adam Morelock said. “She is a verbal, emotional and physical leader in every way.”

Deane’s high school career did not start with fireworks. She was a bench player for the first two years of her career at SHS. Then, her junior year, she lit up the court and was team MVP. She averaged 10.9 points, the most of the team, and scored 228 points throughout the year. Her senior year she leads the team in points with 258 and steals with 53.

“Miranda’s a great worker, she has put in the time and energy that it takes to go from just a shooter, to a pretty complete basketball player,” Morelock said. “I am proud of that effort, and I wish she had four more years.”