Proving to be the best of the west

The weekend before regionals was a very emotional weekend for the Lady Pirates. Senior night was held on Friday, February 3 when the team played Pearl City, physical and tough competitors. Senior night was the result of much hard work from the underclassmen who choreographed a routine relating back to high school musical, which was always a favorite of the senior girls.

“It was lit, fam! We have the best underclassmen around on and off the court. Not many people would take the time to learn the choreography to ‘Get’cha Head in the Game’ to perform for us in front of all those people,” said Megan Frank.

And not only that the band also kept a secret surprise for senior night by playing, “We’re All in this Together” from high school musical.

“We started practicing the song a few weeks before senior night. We had one close call when Katie walked into the band room to give someone a pass and everyone scrambled to cover up the secret. I was glad to be a part of senior night,” said Julian Butts.

Along with the excitement of the night, the Lady Pirates had a tough road ahead to defeat the Lady Wolverines. The fought a tough game to claim a victory of 60-26 over Pearl City. After winning, the seniors stayed on the court for many pictures and congratulations to embrace their last moments and their last time on their home court.

Then, over the weekend before regionals, the varsity team competed in a rescheduled tournament at Lena Winslow. The girls played Aquin and Stillman Valley. Aquin was fast and agile in the beginning, which helped them keep up with the Pirates as the game was tied up at halftime. The Lady Pirates knew that later in the season they may potentially be playing Aquin in the Sectional, so the girls knew they needed to kick it in gear. Coming out of halftime full of energy and determination, the Lady Pirates prevailed to win 46-26.

To win the tournament, the girls had to defeat a 3A school, Stillman Valley. The game was very physical, as the teams traded buckets. Varsity point guard, Anna Hulscher, was sick but fought through her sickness to make some pressure free throws to put the Pirates up two with a minute to go.

“Playing after getting over the flu was tough, but I knew I had to do it for my team. I was shaking when I was going up to the line to shoot the free throw, but thankfully I made them both to put us ahead!” said Anna Hulscher.

Directly after, Stillman Valley managed to make a layup and was fouled on the play, which lead to the Pirates opponents to be up by one point. The Pirates had to do something risky to get a quick basket, with only 5.8 seconds to play. Hulscher lobbed the ball from half-court to the baseline where Katie got fouled with only 4.2 seconds to go. Furlong knocked down both free throws after being fouled. Stillman Valley was not able to make another shot against the Lady Pirates defense, which lead to the Lady Pirates winning the Gold & Grill Tournament.