To end the season, the Bomber Girls Basketball Team played a close game against the Plainview Elgin Millville (PEM) Bulldogs. Despite the Bomber’s tough losses throughout the season, they kept their heads up, determination high, and fought until the last buzzer. This dedication showed in their last game of the season against PEM; the final score was 52-63. Despite the loss, the Bombers gave PEM a run for their money. The Bombers fought the whole game and showed tremendous growth from the beginning of the season. In addition, the girls showed greater connection with every passing game. The Bombers ended the season with a record of 3-26 and ranked 14th in the conference.
Livia Tennessen was an important aspect of this team. As a freshman, she had a big role on the varsity team as a shooting guard for the Bombers. Tennessen stated, “I think size was the biggest factor in the challenges we faced.” At the start of the season, the Bombers had very little height on the team. Unfortunately, one of the Bomber’s juniors, Avery Rustad, standing at 5’10, the tallest on the team had her season cut short from ACL and meniscus tears. Tenneseen stated that the girls could overcome those height struggles they faced by boxing out and rebounding. Tennessen’s favorite memory from the season was getting their third win against the Lewiston Altura Cardinals; the win was even sweeter because it was the Cardinal’s Senior Night. The Bombers’ win against the Cardinals was 56-49 and their first two wins were against St. Charles and Randolph.
“Watching the improvement between games and practices was definitely my favorite part about the season,” stated Emma Templin. Templin is an 8th grader who grew to become a big part of the team as the season went on. The team has set some goals to work for next season. Templin stated, “Our team goals for next season are to keep improving and learning from our game.” The Girls Basketball Assistant Coach, Sean Wingfield, normally hosts workouts and shoot arounds in the summer that the girls can go to. There are many young athletes in the program so they are looking to grow into a strong team in the future.
After Rustad’s injury early in the season Libby Sampson, an 8th grader, stepped up as a post player for the Bombers. Sampson stated, “I think the season went as well as it could considering our height and age.” She believes that it was a great building season for the team and a season the girls all learned from. The Bombers improved on a great deal of things over the season. When asked what the team most improved on this season, she replied, “I think we most improved on hustling, getting down the court, and handling the ball.” That is also a goal of theirs to work on over the summer.
This season is one that the Girls Bomber Basketball Team can look back on and see how far they have come. Most of them have quite a few years of basketball left, and in these years they will grow with every game that goes by. The 2023-2024 season may have had some struggles, but the girls are excited to learn and grow in the years to come.
