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UCA girls won 'the right way' |
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 |
By JIM FULLER
Express Sports Editor
First-year Head Coach Albert Huizing feels he made some progress with his young United Christian Academy team this season. They finished 11-10 and six of those losses were by single digits.
"I think overall we really built up a strong team," Huizing said. "A lot of last year (2008-2009), they weren't utilizing each other's strengths. They did well with that this year – especially on offense."
Huizing said strong defensive efforts kept them in a lot of games. "The games that we lost," he said, "we just didn't shoot well."
The Crusaders lose only Huizing's daughter – Kelsey – and Sarah Cochran to graduation. Huizing has freshman Hannah Piette in waiting to take over at point for Kelsey. Cochran, who complemented juniors Ashley Bonin, Gina Clark, and Ivy Goss up front, will be missed for her hard work and solid fundamentals.
"I think we are going to be a stronger team next year," he said. "We won't have to work so hard on the technical details. We'll need to work on the strategies.
"But it's all just words until you play and do it a bunch of times."
The season featured several games where the lead changed hands in the final quarter. Eleven games in all were decided by less than 10 points with the Crusaders coming out on top in five of those games.
"Overall, I'm pretty proud of the girls," Huizing said. "They persevered in every game. They never gave up."
Another thing Huizing liked was the response he got from the parents of the opposing teams. "Other parents would, 'We so enjoyed playing with your girls.' They truly seemed like they were sincere when talking about [our] sportsmanship.
"That's what it's all about. It kind of supports that we are doing it the right way."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 April 2010 )
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