The 2023-24 girls basketball season for White Pine High School came to an end on Feb. 16 in the 2A South Regional semifinals in a 50-44 loss at home against No. 2 Lincoln County.
White Pine, who earned the No. 3 seed after a 12-4 league record, had their comeback effort fall a tad short.
However, for head coach Heather Hamilton, she was pleased with the way her team battled, not only in their final game, but the entire season.
“I’m definitely proud of them for coming from like a 14-point deficit and coming back to a six-point loss,” Hamilton said Feb. 26. “I was just so proud of the girls who are continuing to fight. I think that’s the one thing that they did all season was continuing to fight even when we were down, even when we’re losing. The girls just never gave up and that’s all I could ever ask for.”
In addition, this was a varsity roster that had two seniors with the rest being sophomores and freshman.
Senior Mallory Thompson earned First-Team All-League Defensive Player of the Year and senior Macayla Bybee earned Second-Team All-League honors.
“It was so much fun watching her towards the end of the season,” Hamilton said of Bybee. “I think her last three games kind of blew us out of the water and it was so fun to watch her grow and really just step up on the court as a leader.
“Getting Second Team All-conference is huge for her because I don’t think that she had placed anywhere last year on the regional award. So, such a huge accomplishment for her as well.
Hamilton added that Thompson’s performance was huge for this team to have the production it had as the season progressed.
“That’s a huge accomplishment,” Hamilton added of Thompson’s first team honors. “She’s just been an all-around player and defensively. Couldn’t be more proud of her.”
White Pine began the season 3-9 during non-league play as a result of playing more experienced teams in the higher divisions.
Those games meant much more than the final score, especially for the underclassmen to find themselves and improve before each league game.
“I think we built that confidence because of those non-conference tournaments,” Hamilton said. “We were playing 3A schools and teams that were actually varsity teams. When you look at our team, I say we’re young because we’re mostly freshmen and sophomores. So we’re basically a JV team based on our grade levels.”
The growth during the non-league portion of the season proved dividends once league play came around as they finished winning four straight and six of eight heading into the postseason.
Hamilton said that victorious stretch to end the season helped a young team have that positive mentality heading into the postseason.
“I think it boosted our confidence,” Hamilton said. “Coming toward the end of the season, everyone’s kind of fatigued and their season is almost over. And I think that win (streak) really just helped us continue, like it’s not over, like this is where we’re sitting in the regional tournament. We have a lot more fighting in us. And just having that opportunity for these young players that play in a regional tournament was just such a good experience for them.”
That winning streak was also part of Hamilton’s best moments this season, the overtime, 46-41 victory against Lake Mead, who at the time was ahead of White Pine before finishing behind the Ladycats at the end of the season the following week.
“One of my favorite moments was when we played Lake Mead, which was sitting at the number two seed and I believe we were down the majority of the game,” Hamilton said. “We ended up coming back in the fourth quarter and we ended up going into overtime. Being able to pull it together in that overtime and we ended up beating them by five points. It puts us in a really good place and placement for regionals.”
During the previous two seasons, White Pine had recorded a combined 12 wins, only to outdo that in one season this year.
Hamilton said the success this season came with a lot of trials and tribulations as she continues to adjust to coaching at the varsity level.
“I learned that I’m still, you know, a new coach,” the second-year coach said of the season. “I also make mistakes and I’m learning from them. These girls keep me on my toes and I’m constantly getting better as a coach. They make me better. But, I also appreciate my assistant coaches (for being by my side).”
“I’m just excited for what the future has for us and I’m excited to see where these girls go next year.”
Going into this offseason, Hamilton said she wants her returning players to be ready come tryouts next fall.
“Our goal is to get them in the gym as much as possible in the offseason, really work on their shooting,” Hamilton said. “We’d like to attend a few camps and hopefully get some skill camps for them as well. But again, just getting in the gym, staying in shape. I know a lot of them play multiple sports, so hopefully that can keep them in shape as well.”
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