NOTHING FOR GRANTED
Shen Basketball understands that there may be no tomorrow this season
CLIFTON PARK, NY » Studentathletes around the state are going to be tested this winter in ways they’ve never been.
They will play every game with the looming possibility that it is their last. Nobody knows this better than the players on those teams who had their state playoff games cancelled in March, due to the coronavirus.
“We can’t promise tomorrow. We could get a call tomorrow that we’re cancelled for two weeks or the other team might gets shut down we just don’t know,” said Shen girl’s basketball coach Joseph Murphy. “We just have to cherish every game and enjoy it. It’s basketball season, we’re going to do what we normally do and play our normal game and try to develop our kids.”
This season there will be no state tournament and while no official decision has been made about sectional or league playoffs, the shortened season doesn’t bode well for any sort of championship.
“There’s really no championship to play for, obviously we’re playing to win, but we’re
just trying to have fun out there,” said Shen senior Meghan Huerter. “You don’t know what’s going to happen since everything’s up in the air, so you just have to make the most of every game and the time spent with everyone together. For me, it’s about making the most of my senior year and creating memories.”
Making the most of every individual game seems like all basketball players can do this season.
Thursday night, Huerter did just that scoring 17 points in Shen’s season opener. Her sister, Jillian, was able to score 11 as well. The pair were frequently seeking each other out on passes, including many fullcourt passes.
“Whether it’s full-court, inside or out, I think it’s just that sister bond - we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, I know where she likes the ball and I always know where she is during a play, so I try to get her the ball and vice-versa,” Meghan added. “I think we work well together, just from having that sister bond.”
Another player who made the most of Shen’s season opener was Sam Lee, who also scored 11 points, including six in the third quarter.
“It was really nice to be able to play with everything with COVID going on. Even with the masks, it was still fun to play,” Lee said, who took some time getting used to things on the court.
“The first half was a little strange, especially since the refs were saying to try not to touch each other, which was weird because when you guard you have to. During the third quarter it started to feel more normal.”
Lee is one of four seniors on the Plainsmen roster this season. The other include Meghan Huerter, Rylee Carpenter and Jenna Slader.
“A lot of these girls play AAU together or have had a relationship growing up together over the years, so we know how to play together and I think this past week of practicing, we all kind of bought into being the best team that we can possibly be, under these circumstances,” Huerter said.
Aside from the directions the refs were giving the players early on, the players also had to get used to playing with masks, without fans and without traditional high-fives.
“No fans is pretty strange and especially on the bench, we’re so used to high-fiving people and we can’t do that anymore, so we’re doing airhigh-fives, which is kind of a weird sensation,” Lee said.
As far as the masks go, Murphy wasn’t too worried about his players being able to hold up their end of the deal.
“The masks are fine. Nobody complains about them. When you get into the school setting, the kids are awesome. They don’t pull them down, they don’t complain about them. Unfortunately it has become normal to wear a mask,” he said.
“I definitely feel like we did a great job, between the masks and the spacing between the chairs I felt safe the entire time and I know my teammates did too,” Carpenter added. “It’s definitely a good system.”
Murphy continued on how he felt about Shen’s season opener.
“Even silly high-fives with elbows, it was a fun night. It was basketball and it was a little bit of normalcy for these kids which I really think they need.”
At the end of the day, without a championship to look forward to, all the player can do it hope to get better and win the game in front of them. All the players at Shen seem to be on the same page.
“You definitely don’t want to take anything for granted and we want to go into every single game with that mindset,” Carpenter said. “We’re lucky to have this opportunity, so we’re going to do everything we can to go out and play well.”