Harrison girls hope to continue upward trend

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

Last winter definitely felt like a step in the right direction for the Harrison girl’s basketball team. The Lady Hornets finished the year 9-14 overall and competed well in just about every game they played during the season.

We played in a lot of close games last year and more than doubled our win total from the season (before),” third year head coach Ryan Carlstrom said.

And the best news of all in this?

“We only lost one senior,” Carlstrom said.

The Lady Hornets return seven players from last year’s squad.  Those being seniors Hayley Neff (post), Ashlyn Winters (guard), Gracie Burkhard (post), Sam Hopkins (guard) and Lydia Kendall (guard), Janessa O’Day (guard) along with sophomore Dakota O’Day (guard).

“Neff has been on varsity as a sophomore and led the team in rebounds each of the last two seasons,” Carlstrom said. “Winters is a very reliable shooter and creates driving lines because of her ability to shoot. Burkhard has battled some injuries the past two years, when she is healthy, she is a problem down low in the post. Hopkins was all-conference honorable mention last year, she is also a menace on the defensive side of the court and uses her speed to her advantage. Kendall received second team all-conference each of the last two years and also led us in scoring those years as well. Janessa O’Day has received all-conference honorable mention, she also led us in steals a season ago. Dakota O’Day was all conference honorable mention last year, but she unfortunately will miss most of the season with an injury.”

New to the team will be juniors Alivia Winters (guard, post), Caitlin Kirby (guard) and sophomore Madison Wheaton (guard).

“I think we are going to be a very hard team to beat this year,” Carlstrom said. “We had a really good summer and are hoping to transition that right into the first game of the year. We are a very experienced team with every one of the girls having played meaningful minutes in a varsity game last year. I feel like that is something you don't see from a lot of varsity teams. So that will be helpful to us this season.”

The Jack Pine Conference is expected to be loaded once again, including the smaller Division II, which the Hornets will once again play in.

“Our conference is a tough one, Meridian will be a team to beat for sure,” Carlstrom said. “Nobody has beaten them in a while, so until someone beats them, they will be a team to beat. Beaverton will also be good this year. We played them really tough last year and just came up short both times. With that being said, I truly believe we will be right up there at the top competing for a conference title. The expectations are high for us this year. It is our job to go out there to prove everyone they weren't wrong to expect us to do well this year.”

Harrison opens the season on Tuesday at home against Pinconning, they host Gladwin on Thursday, Dec. 11 and they play at Meridian on Tuesday, Dec. 9.

“We obviously want to win them,” Carlstrom said of the early season games. “More importantly, we want to get better every game. Clean up any mistakes made from the game prior.  Then we also want to win the turnover game and achieve our in-game goals every game.”

All told, the optimism surrounding the Lady Hornet basketball program is pretty high; they definitely seem to have the pieces this year to check off some major accomplishments.

“I am very excited to see what this season brings for us,” Carlstrom said. “This is the most skilled team I have had in my short tenure and the most experienced. All of these seniors were on varsity my first year coaching here, so for them to stick it out with me and be the group that changes the trajectory of the program means a lot. I'm very thankful for them trusting me to lead them and coach them the past few seasons.”

© Clare County Cleaver