CHENEY – The Cheney girls basketball team ended the season on a positive and in the direction the program will trend following a 53-41 win over North Central on Feb. 9.
In the battle for who avoids the basement in the Greater Spokane League, a decisive fourth quarter in which the Blackhawks outscored the Wolfpack 14-9 allowed Cheney to grab its lone league win to finish 1-8 (5-15 overall).
The trio of Kiah Klauss, Natalie Richards and Mia Ashcroft each scored 10 points, sending first-year coach Meredith Richards into the off-season working to improve the status of her team.
“It was definitely a letdown when you look solely at the numbers,” Richards wrote in an email. “I don’t define our season based on the wins and losses.”
Having been in the sports for years, Richards saw her first campaign from a somewhat contradictory lens.
“As a player I remember thinking that the basketball season just drags on and on and encompasses so many big family holidays,” she said. “As a coach, it seems to fly by in the blink of an eye.”
Besides the swiftly turning calendar, Richards lamented other numbers like practices, of which there were only 43.
“Forty-three times I got my girls into the gym to work on absolutely everything you can think of pertaining to basketball,” she said, suggesting there seems to never be enough time in the gym, aside from games, to teach the fundamentals of the game.
After finishing her first year, fundamentals will be even more of a focus for future seasons. “You can’t build solid teams and programs without fundamentals,” Richards added.
As usual, with the end of the season comes the view down the road and looking back at the same time.
“Senior night was bittersweet,” Richards said. “Losing Macey (Richards) and Paige (Evans) will definitely leave some big shoes to fill.”
Macey Richards, the coach’s daughter, is a large loss in more ways than one.
“Losing Macey on the inside will hurt,” her coach/mom said. “She is a player that you could always count on for 100% effort.”
“She was our height and will be missed,” Richards said, but Cheney has strong post/wing players that will fill her position in Kiah Klauss, Allie Vold and Kiley Zeisler.
While injuries are never welcome, for Cheney they may have been somewhat beneficial to the future?
“Natalie (Richards) and Sarah (Hanson) got thrown into the point guard role with Paige’s injury early in the season, and I believe they both will be even stronger and more prepared next year because of it,” Richards said.
When Richards looks at the things the team didn’t do in the beginning of the season and compares that to the last game, he says, “I see growth.”
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