Women’s basketball team struggles with small roster numbers due to COVID-19

By Declan Fee,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The women’s basketball team has encountered an unforeseen obstacle with this year’s season, having a roster of only six players.

After last year’s COVID-19 stricken season, the amount of girls pursuing high school basketball has dwindled significantly, leaving the past two year’s teams shorthanded.

“During the first COVID season I only had 10 girls come out, so I only had one team. Normally every year we will have three teams with about 12 players,” varsity women’s basketball head coach, Heather Highshoe said.

“I think COVID might have scared off some people. Basketball is a very physical, close-contact game,” Highshoe said. “Not having junior high athletics the last two years also hurt because we didn’t have those eighth graders playing and learning about the sport.”

Eight students initially came out for this years team, but two decided not to play anymore, leaving the team with just six.

This group of girls, consisting of two seniors, two juniors and two sophomores has struggled this season in out-of-league play, but so far has gone 4-1 in league games, putting them in 2nd place.

The small number of upperclassmen has provided the opportunity for younger players to contribute on the court. Sophomore Tessa Schouten is currently leading the team in points, rebounds, blocks and steals per game.

The lack of players has made both practice and games much more difficult than usual. “… This year has obviously had a lot of challenges. Especially when most of us have to play entire games … also when we don’t have enough players to scrimmage at practice,” Schouten said.

Accommodating for the small roster has been challenging, but the team has figured out ways to make

the most of this predicament. “We have made many adjustments though, with combining JV and varsity to have enough bodies for practice, or recently we have brought up two JV players to help us in games,” Schouten said.

One of these JV players, freshman Keira Williams has made a significat difference on the varsity team. “I was obviously nervous at first, but I was a leader on the JV team and was ultimately excited for the challenge,” said Williams.

Having a small team has had its benefits, both on and off the court. A tight knit team has formed and the players feel much more comfortable playing with each other. “… having such a small team has made us really close and able to work together well,” Schouten said.

This year has left the team eager for next season. “I’m really hopeful and optimistic about rebuilding next year and getting incoming 9th graders and getting our numbers a little bit bigger, ” Highshoe said.