Before the Wes-Del girls basketball team plays a game, they have a team meeting in an assistant coach’s classroom. Monday, before the Warriors faced off against Anderson Prep, they sat there, as usual, and coach Kyle Mealy delivered a simple question.
What would it mean to win this game?
“Our seniors have been in this program, now in their fourth year and never won a game,” said Mealy, now in his second year. “It sums it up with one girl, Myah Swoveland, said it would mean everything to win.”
With that, they went out and put 76 consecutive defeats to rest.
The Warriors toppled the Jets 52-22 to notch the program’s first victory since Dec. 13, 2010. Since that 42-21 game against South Adams, the program endured three consecutive winless seasons with two different coaches, but all that came to an end Wednesday.
The scoring leader: Abbie Rooker, a versatile frontcourt player who put up 14 points and last year stood out as a bright spot for a struggling program. She was joined in the frontcourt this season by 6-foot-1 senior Mackenzie Whitehead (13 points), and Mealy made sure to note, any frontcourt is only as good as the guards getting the ball to it. Seniors Mariah Berry and Swoveland notched eight and six.
For the Jets (0-5) this was another rough game after not even fielding a team last year. Coming in, they had lost by an average of 46.8 points per game.
After taking that question from their coach, the Warriors (1-4) didn’t take long to put themselves in position to snap the streak. They raced ahead 14-0 at the end of the opening quarter and really never looked back.
“They were definitely geared up and focused to start this one,” Mealy said. “We came out, put a little full-court pressure on and got out to the 14-point lead.
“They were excited, but it’s a learning experience because it’s been a while since they’ve been up like that. Excitement but still a little bit of nerves.”
Mackenzie Whitehead