Arcadia-Loup City Girls Basketball Rebels build for the future during 2020-2021 season
Similar to volleyball this season, the Arcadia-Loup City girls basketball team had a massive re-haul of starters this past season. This was due to the graduation of a big senior class a season ago.
As a result, a lot of underclassmen and firstyear starters had to step up and take significant roles. It was a struggle in the beginning, but the Rebels continued to improve each and every game.
“I think we improved on defense, boxing out, and toughness,” A-LC Coach Jason Bott said. “We started the season not being strong with the ball, but we got much better with ripping the ball through as the season went on. The girls worked hard on defense and we found an identity with man to man defense and pressuring the ball handler. Boxing out was also a struggle early on this year, but the girls really improved on this as the season went along.”
After struggling to find a win through the first part of the season, A-LC finally broke through with a victory vs Shelby-Rising City in the Huskies holiday tournament.
From there, they faced a Clarkson-Leigh squad that would go on to finish 20-3 on the season and make a District Final
in Class C2. After three-quarters of play, they trailed the Patriots 33-26 and ended up losing by only fourteen points.
According to Bott, this is where he saw the most improvement from the ladies, and it’s what gives him hope about the future of the Rebels girls basketball program.
“This team stayed together even through a losing season,” Bott said. “They never pointed fingers or blamed each other. That’s my favorite memory. We had a great Shelby tournament where we played Clarkson-Leigh so well.”