By Mike Moore | The Pearl
O’Donel High has two girls’ basketball teams hitting the hardwood this season, and both squads are off to a searing start.
The Senior A team lost a tight championship game in double overtime against Holy Heart of Mary, while the Senior B team won their championship game in a busy weekend at the Holy Spirit Invitational tournament.
Coach Wayne Rose is thrilled with the early success from both units, saying it’s a first for O’Donel to have not one, but two girls’ basketball teams competing for hardware.
“Our numbers are back up, which is fantastic,” Rose said.
“We’ve pretty much only lost to one team on the Senior A team this year, which is Holy Heart. The last three tournaments we’ve played we’ve lost to them in the championship game each time … We’re getting close.”
Rose says O’Donel has always seemed to struggle when it comes to putting together just one girls’ team, while other schools in the district generally always had two teams.
“We’ve always had teams, but usually it was more younger players,” he said.
The schedule gets thicker as the season rolls on, according to Rose. More tournaments on the horizon, with one more before Christmas, and the biggest prize of them all sitting at the very end in the form of the AAAA championship will keep both teams busy this year.
“That’s what we’re gathering our resources for, and we’re close enough now we know we can compete with them,” Rose said.
“Holy Heart has a good team, no question about it, but they’re not unbeatable.”
For now, both units are focusing on finding ways to win, and a future in basketball seems imminent for a few of the graduating players according to their coach.
“There’s a couple of girls on the team that are moving forward,” Rose said. “Elizabeth DeVilla I believe is being looked at to play for a university on the mainland, and so is Katie Cousens, but I’m not sure if they signed with anybody.”
