Small but mighty - Potomac Pioneers learn to play as a team

POTOMAC – With only seven girls out for the Potomac School Girls Basketball team not only did they see a lot of playing time, Head Coach Beth Copenhaver said there was a lot of improvement. The Pioneers finished sixth in the Copper League Tournament.

"I've been most proud of the effort that they put on the court," Copenhaver said. "At the end of the day, if you go out and put everything out there and you work your hardest, that is what matters, that is what we count as a win – that we put our full effort forth. I think they all understood that by the end of the season."

Due to the pandemic, only eighth grader Kaycee Salter and seventh grader Katrina Olson had played basketball before. As a team, Copenhaver said they really focused on the basics. They learned basketball language and terms and fundamentals on the court from the nature of a shot and shooting the ball to dribbling and different types of defense.

"It was really basic, day one, basketball so it gives them a solid start," Copenhaver said.

When the season started, Copenhaver said some of the girls could not hit the rim of the hoop. By the end of the season they were making shots in the game.

"That was just really awesome to see the impact for those girls," Copenhaver said. "They actually saw reward for it in that same season."

Copenhaver felt like many of the teams in the league had the same struggle with having a lot of girls that had never played before due to the pandemic shutting things down.

"I think everybody kind of felt that pressure and it almost seemed to make everyone, at least from the coaching side, have a better attitude," Copenhaver said. "There was a lot more sportsmanship overall across the league."

Since they did not have enough players to scrimmage, she brought in high school students, including her sons Keith and Emmett, who graduated from Potomac School to help with the team. Not only did it provide leadership from within the community, when the girls are playing against boys that are close to six feet tall in practice the girls that are five foot, six inches "don't seem that tall."

"It is really cool to see when you have this younger generation of kids, they can really look up to the next one that is just a few grades a head of them and it kind of helps set that example," Copenhaver said. "In these small communities, you really depend on people volunteering to make this stuff happen. I also think sometimes kids will understand better from someone within a few years from them."

Copenhaver also started open gym on Friday nights as an option for the girls.

"It was open for girls basketball but everyone was welcome. It really just kind of expanded that community touch that seemed like people had more of an investment to come and watch and support the girls in the season during the home games," Copenhaver said. "I found that more families came out with their kids and it just gave them something else to do."

It was not until the end of the season that the Pioneers had all seven players at the games. Playing with no substitutes really changed how she used timeouts in the games.

"Those timeouts become breaks," Copenhaver said. "I was trying to use them when I saw the girls looked a little bit gassed on the court."

When they did have subs, they were subbing fifth graders against eighth graders.

"There is a balance there because you are getting them in and playing them but you don't want to overwhelm them either," Copenhaver said. "Those girls really stepped up. Being small and young and brand new to the sport, they took on the challenge of playing these older teams."

While they only had a few wins during the season, including a fifth through seventh grade game against Seeley Lake early in the season, Copenhaver said none of the games were blow outs.

"Not only did they continue to play sometimes with no subs, they actually did well as far as holding their own scoring and playing defense," Copenhaver said. "Almost all of the games were super close games."

While all the fifth and sixth graders were first year players, Copenhaver said Salter and Olson helped lead the girls on the court.

Copenhaver said Salter really stepped into the leadership role of being the oldest, most experienced girl on the court. Even though she was consistently the high scorer for the Pioneers, scoring 26 points in her best game, she still looked for all her teammates to get the open shot.

"She really exemplified what it means to be part of a team," Copenhaver said.

Copenhaver said Olson led by example and was a "quiet support on the court."

Potomac went into the Copper League Tournament as the fifth seed behind Bonner which was the fourth seed. With a score of 3-15 at the half, Potomac held Bonner to six points in the second half and they scored 15 points. While it was not quite enough to win, they only lost to them by three points.

"It was a really tough game," Copenhaver said. "The girls played super competitively."

In the consolation game they met Valley Christian. The final score was 6-25, one of the biggest gaps they had seen during the season. While they lost by more points, Copenhaver said they girls consistently played better as a team.

"I was really proud of the fact that they showed up and played as a team," Copenhaver said.