BARTLETT — It was a strange end of the season for CWC girls basketball.
The team fell in the subdistrict final to St. Mary’s and had to wait to see if the season would continue. This is a subdistrict, by-the-way, where three teams were in the top-ten in the state.
Laurel O’Malley’s team sat in fourth in the D-2 point standings and had over a week to practice for a trip to Lincoln that wasn’t guaranteed. “They were going to work hard no matter what, whether we were going or not going,” she explains. “I got some great advice from some coaches that were in the same situation and they said ‘the main thing you do is coach them like they’re in’ so that’s what I did and I think it made all the difference in the world.”
Once the brackets came out, the Renegades could let loose a sigh of relief. Now, as eyes shift toward state, they see a lot of familiar names in the bracket. That includes St. Mary’s and Sandhills/Thedford, which CWC played this season, and Wynot, who it saw during summer basketball.
“I think it gives you a confidence,” O’Malley says. “If you beat somebody or competed with somebody then you know maybe you can be in their league.”
All-in-all the trip to state is something CWC has been aiming for since last season. Especially the seniors, who made it an explicit goal. “They took that on, they’re great leaders, they’re great leaders by their actions and by what they tell the other kids,” O’Malley says.
“They’re just so encouraging and the other girls want to not let them down.”
CWC meets Wynot in the first round of the D-2 state playoffs on Thursday from Lincoln Southwest. You can catch the game on V-103.9 FM and KNLVRadio.com beginning at 10:45 P.M.
