Both basketball teams ended their seasons with accomplishments to be proud of

By Alex Mackall
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This past winter, the Hounds showed themselves to be a threat on the basketball court, both the men’s and women’s teams. Although neither team brought home a state championship at the end of the season, both teams seemed to come out with some sort of victory.

For the men’s team, it was overcoming the addition of a new head coach to the roster and the loss of one of their starting players to complete a successful season, and for the women’s team, it was putting out the wildfire of a winning streak that was held by the Ben Davis Giants.

In November, when the men’s team started their season, they were not accustomed to new head coach, Scott Heady, and they were certainly not used to playing without their former starting, 6-foot, 11-inch center, AJ Hammons, who transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia at the beginning of the school year.  However, despite the big changes, the Hounds kicked off the season as if nothing had changed over the past year, with an 84-71 win over Brownsburg.

The Hounds pulled off a solid season, beating some of their major rivals including Ben Davis and Lawrence North. The team also beat out Noblesville 60-38 in the opening game of the sectional tournament, after a tough loss to the Millers earlier in the season. The Hounds eventually lost in the sectional tournament championship to Hamilton Southeastern (HSE), but they went out fighting, losing by only four points with a final score of 57-53.

The men’s team was certainly not the only group to draw attention to the basketball program at this school this past winter. In fact, the night of Saturday, Feb. 19, was the night of what could be considered one of the most exciting victories in the history of this school. On this night of the regional tournament championship, the women’s basketball team ended the Ben Davis Giant’s 81-game winning streak. The Hounds, being the last to beat the Giants before the streak began back in 2008, felt it was their job to put an end to the streak, and they certainly delivered. They pulled out the 65-62 win after a gut-wrenching fourth quarter. Although they lost in Semistate, the win over Ben Davis seemed to mean more to the team than bringing home a state championship. This long-term goal was finally met after two-and-a half-seasons of working toward it.

With the number of trophies in the Eric Clark Activity Center and the multiple student athlete record boards that hang on the walls here, it is important to realize that state championships aren’t equivalent to a team’s success. Sometimes strengthening a team, becoming comfortable with other players and coaches and working together to reach your team goals is more important than the hardware. The men’s and women’s basketball teams made CHS proud this year by doing these things. Both look to be headed toward success and it’s likely they will both be teams to watch in 2011-2012 school year.