CEDARVILLE — Maggie Coe and most of the starters for the Cedarville Indians high school girls basketball team were on the bench for most of the fourth quarter, but they were putting just as much energy into cheering for their teammates as they did playing the actual game.
Cedarville defeated their Ohio Heritage Conference opponent, the Triad Cardinals, by a score of 63-36, Jan. 24 at Cedarville High School.
The girls on the bench were regularly jumping up and down and cheering on their teammates who do not always get as much playing time. Cedarville coach Josh Mason said that team unity has been an important part of their season and it was evident the girls had bought into that.
“If you focus on enjoying every second while you are together, good things usually happen,” Mason said.
Coe led the Indians (10-5, 6-4 OHC South) with 18 points on the night. Triad is now 7-9, 3-8 in the OHC North.
Mason said Cedarville had gotten away from enjoying the game a little bit this season, but they are focused on making sure they enjoy every second of the rest of the season.
“We dropped two big games in a row last week (Jan. 15 at home against Tri Village; on the road Jan. 17 at West Liberty-Salem) and we had to do some soul searching, because we weren’t used to stuff like that,” Mason said. “We put so much pressure on ourselves to win that we stopped enjoying the game.”
The team had a conversation among themselves about their approach and have shifted their focus to really enjoying their time as a team and hoping the wins will follow.
“Basketball is really fun if you can enjoy being with your teammates, coach, and community,” Mason said. “The wins and losses will sort themselves out.”
The Indians have a tough stretch with multiple games close together to end the season. They will play seven games in 12 days and the team will be tested, but Mason said the team should be ready for the challenge.
“One of our main goals this year is toughness,” Mason said. “By the end of this seven game stretch we will find out just how tough we are.”
The Indians will begin the long stretch against Greenon at 2:30 p.m., on Saturday Jan. 26 at home. Triad will host West Jefferson that same day, but at 7:30 p.m.
“We have eight games left, and our goal now is to enjoy every second of it,” Mason said.
