The ride for the Bishop Luers girls basketball team has been a lot smoother this time around. Not like the roller-coaster ride to the Class 2A state finals last year.
The 2010 Knights endured injuries to three key players in the preseason, but a 6-0 start put the team at No. 1. A few losses dropped Luers in the polls, and the team appeared to be near rock-bottom emotionally when senior Shelby Gruss was seriously injured in a snowboarding accident in January and was partly paralyzed.
But Gruss’ situation seemed to galvanize Luers. A 70-65 loss in the 2A title game at Memorial Coliseum ended things on a sour note.
“In all my years I have never seen a year like that,” said coach Denny Renier, who was in his first season as head coach. “This year, it has been different. We felt like we would be a better team just because of the players coming back. We really felt like when we got into the tournament, anything less than getting to state is a failure. And that’s a lot of pressure.”
2011 hasn’t been smooth, but with a date in the Elkhart Central Semistate on Saturday against Culver (25-1), it hasn’t been too far off either.
“We have such team chemistry compared to last year,” said senior Hilary Watts, one of two players to suffer injuries in the preseason and miss part of last year. “Shelby brought us together, and this year we are close as friends and hanging out. We mesh well on the court, and you can see that while we are playing. It is unfinished business. We want to prove we are there from last year, and we are going to take it one step further.”
Catherine Barnett’s injury kept her sidelined for the entire season, which has made being on the court and winning twice as nice for the junior guard.
“It is like a dream come true,” Barnett said. “It was devastating (to miss last year). I am not going to lie, but I supported them the best that I could. I am glad they made it as far as they did. Hopefully we can come with the blue (ribbon, first).”
The turning point for the 2A top-ranked Knights (22-2) may have been a 59-47 loss to Northrop on Jan. 14. They had a meeting to discuss team chemistry and being overconfident and haven’t lost since, a run of nine straight wins.
“The way we view taking stuff for granted is different,” Watts said of changes within the team. We never expected to lose to Northrop, and that opened our eyes.”
The Knights went on to win the SAC title, along with sectional and regional championships.
“We are more of a family,” Barnett said. “We have our ups and downs, but in the end we are always together.”
