By AMY DAVIS
The Progress
If Mannion Middle School in Henderson was expecting an easy win over some small-town girls, they were sorely mistaken.
With a final score of 49-10, the Hughes Middles School Girls Basketball team claimed its second straight Division 2 Basketball Championship with ease.
The stands at Green Valley High School in Las Vegas were packed with fans from both competing schools on Friday. Feb. 24. It was obvious early on that Hughes would be bringing home the trophy.
Feeling unstoppable, the girls finished out the season, undefeated in their division, with 21 wins. Friday night’s win marked the 25th league game win in a row and 36th Division 2 win in a row.
Most of the girls on Hughes’ team have been playing basketball together since 4th grade. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and work together well. The wins seemed to come easy this year. Each game was won by a very large margin of 20 points or more.
“This is an excellent team,” said Coach Joe Sheppard. “The team we beat tonight was undefeated, they won all their games big like us. So we thought it would be a tough game tonight, but they just didn’t know how to handle the press and our man to man and we scored a lot of buckets on them.”
Sheppard pointed out that his team had lots of breakaways and really good passing. “It was a great game,” continued Sheppard. “I never expected this. Two years in a row, what a great group of kids!”
What will the team look like next year? “We have five 8th graders leaving us, but we still have 10 coming back,” Sheppard said. “So next year is still something to look forward to.”
Coach Bob Snell was fighting back his emotions as he praised his team. “To win a championship is a great accomplishment, but then to come back the very next year and defend it and win it again…these ladies are truly champions.”
“We have enjoyed coaching them! Snell added. ”And I will tell you what, Mannion never knew what hit them!”
Snell said that he feels lucky to not only be a Hughes basketball coach, but to see these girls at school everyday as well. “This is such a great group of kids!” he said.
The first point was scored within the first 10 seconds of the tip off with an assist from 8th grader Ava Noel to 8th grader Maddie Wright.
Mannion scored their first basket with 1 minute 8 seconds left in the first quarter. But by this time, the Hawks already had 18 points on the scoreboard. By halftime, the Hawks were leading 34-2.
Fifteen girls are on the Hughes Middle School team and each and every single one of them got to play in the championship games. Coaches, parents, and athletes alike know that that doesn’t always happen.
Teams become families and this team was no exception. Shortly after the championship game was won, just before the trophy was awarded, there were a few minutes for the girls to realize that this was the last school game they would play together for a few years. Teammates began to wrap their arms around each other as tears slipped from their eyes with the realization that they were ending an era.
Hughes Middle School has only ever won two female basketball championships and there are only a handful of girls who were able to experience both wins.
“This year was great,” said 8th grade team member Maddie Wright. The friendships we have with each other are so strong and the coaches were great. We took another “dub” this year and it feels great.”
“We know each other so well, some of us have been playing more than three years together,” said 8th grader Taylor Blazzard. “It is just really fun to be with each other and it feels really good to win.”
Brooke Zarate says, “I am super excited that we won back-to-back championships. I am sad that I have to leave the 7th and 6th graders behind because it was so fun to play with them.”
Ava Noel says, “I am so glad that we won. I made lots of new friends and got to get so close with them all. I am so happy for our team.”
Lexie Walker says, “Winning back-to-back was really fun! I’ll miss playing with the younger girls, but I am excited to see what high school holds for us!”
