The Pine City Girls Basketball team starts their season tonight at home against Aitkin. The Dragons are coming off another 20+ win season where they ended up just short of the conference championship and fell in a very tightly contested section battle.
For Ted Hasz and the Dragon Basketball Fans, this is one of the years they have been really looking forward to. The last five years they have had very young teams and now some of these girls that have been playing varsity since eighth grade are juniors and seniors and the team is ready to have another successful season. The Dragons have been right in the mix with Rush City and St. Cloud Cathedral and some of these other teams that have kept them from going to State and now the Dragons are hopeful they can get over the top and convert some of these close games into wins.
Pine City girls basketball preview with Ted Hasz:
What are you most excited for this year?
We have a great group of leaders this year. We have 5 seniors who are doing a great job as captains. They are Chloe Alleman, Emily Carpenter, Hannah Husom, Hannah Lorsung and Jolie Wicktor. As a whole, our group is very positive and is willing to push one another to get better everyday. That is a great combination for reaching high levels of achievement.
Who are a couple athletes that will stand out?
We return one all section 6AA player from last season in Sophomore Ellie Hasz. We return 3 players who earned Great River All Conference awards. Ellie Hasz, Alaina Steele and Lily Wilson. Along with these three players, we have had a lot of kid put in some good work in the off season to put themselves in position to be major contributors.
What are your goals?
Our daily goal is to earn the respect of our teammates, coaches, opponents and referees. We are setting our team long term goals as we speak.
Favorite upcoming games, matches, or meets?
Some of our highlights this year, will be attending the St. Cloud Tech Holiday Tournament and also taking part in the Breakdown Crossover Classic in Perham on January 5th. This is an event where they bring in top boys and girls teams from around the state to showcase them all at one site.
Anything Else?
We feel that we have a chance to do great things this year! Our program is steadily improving year to year. We play a very fun brand of basketball that is entertaining to watch. We have some very skilled players that have worked really hard to get to where they are.
Photo Credit Lancelot Furber:
