Basketball Feature: Hillsboro Lady Indians
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
With no seniors on the 2013-14 Hillsboro Lady Indians basketball team, a trio of juniors will have to grow up a little faster on the basketball court as they have been selected as captains to lead the team this season.
The three captains are Kaylynn Bell, Trista Rhodes and Hannah Kibler, as all three are entering their third season of varsity basketball, and all three are stellar athletes for the school.
These three players are also multi-sport athletes with Kibler being a former state qualifier in track and field, while Rhodes and Bell have each played a pivotal role for the HHS soccer team, reaching the regional finals this past fall and the regional round of the postseason the past two years.
On the court, the captains have been a big part of the resurgence of the program, with the team gaining five wins last year, which was a big improvement compared to more recent seasons.
The three players all began their playing days at a young age.
"I started playing basketball at the YMCA, with Trista," Bell said. "Our dads were coaching, and it just kind of migrated from there."
"In third grade, I started because Kaylynn asked me to play," Kibler said. "The reason she asked me to play was because I was tall, and I've been playing ever since."
Rhodes continued the story of their YMCA days.
"When we were like 5, Kaylynn and I started playing, and we've just continued to play. All three of us have literally played basketball together since the third grade."
With all three of them playing the game together from a young age, the three spoke about the bond of playing the sport together for all those years.
"We played on all types of teams together," Bell said. "We played on pee-wee teams, middle school and now in high school together."
The three players are now captains of the varsity program, something they take pride in.
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"It is a big role we have to take on," Rhodes said. "We have to lead now, with no seniors ahead of us, so it is different."
"We need to lead by example," Bell said. "That's what we've been doing, and that's why we are here now."
"We've always had people to look up to, but now we have teammates and the younger kids looking up to us,” Kibler said. “So it is something we welcome."
The three juniors want to see improvement from where they left off from last year.
"I want to have a better season," Rhodes said. "We need to keep playing as hard as we can to accomplish that."
"Working hard in practice is big for us to improve from last season," Kibler said.
"Every year, we've progressively gotten better, and we just need to continue that," Bell said. "To keep that going, like my teammates said, we need to work hard."
All three of the ladies were forced to play varsity since their freshman year, and in doing so, they all spoke about that experience and how it has helped them in their basketball careers.
"We were little fish in a big pond," Bell said. "It was scary … we realized we weren't as big as we thought we were. There are teams who have juniors and seniors just making varsity, so we do have the experience."
"We had to get used to the varsity play, more from middle school, where we were playing everyone our own age,” Rhodes said. “It helped because we have so much more experience now."
"The biggest thing was we had a lot less experience, and that made a difference," Kibler said. "It was nerve-wracking at first, because I was afraid to make a mistake, but we overcame that fear."
The three captains are Kaylynn Bell, Trista Rhodes and Hannah Kibler, as all three are entering their third season of varsity basketball, and all three are stellar athletes for the school.
These three players are also multi-sport athletes with Kibler being a former state qualifier in track and field, while Rhodes and Bell have each played a pivotal role for the HHS soccer team, reaching the regional finals this past fall and the regional round of the postseason the past two years.
On the court, the captains have been a big part of the resurgence of the program, with the team gaining five wins last year, which was a big improvement compared to more recent seasons.
The three players all began their playing days at a young age.
"I started playing basketball at the YMCA, with Trista," Bell said. "Our dads were coaching, and it just kind of migrated from there."
"In third grade, I started because Kaylynn asked me to play," Kibler said. "The reason she asked me to play was because I was tall, and I've been playing ever since."
Rhodes continued the story of their YMCA days.
"When we were like 5, Kaylynn and I started playing, and we've just continued to play. All three of us have literally played basketball together since the third grade."
With all three of them playing the game together from a young age, the three spoke about the bond of playing the sport together for all those years.
"We played on all types of teams together," Bell said. "We played on pee-wee teams, middle school and now in high school together."
The three players are now captains of the varsity program, something they take pride in.
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"It is a big role we have to take on," Rhodes said. "We have to lead now, with no seniors ahead of us, so it is different."
"We need to lead by example," Bell said. "That's what we've been doing, and that's why we are here now."
"We've always had people to look up to, but now we have teammates and the younger kids looking up to us,” Kibler said. “So it is something we welcome."
The three juniors want to see improvement from where they left off from last year.
"I want to have a better season," Rhodes said. "We need to keep playing as hard as we can to accomplish that."
"Working hard in practice is big for us to improve from last season," Kibler said.
"Every year, we've progressively gotten better, and we just need to continue that," Bell said. "To keep that going, like my teammates said, we need to work hard."
All three of the ladies were forced to play varsity since their freshman year, and in doing so, they all spoke about that experience and how it has helped them in their basketball careers.
"We were little fish in a big pond," Bell said. "It was scary … we realized we weren't as big as we thought we were. There are teams who have juniors and seniors just making varsity, so we do have the experience."
"We had to get used to the varsity play, more from middle school, where we were playing everyone our own age,” Rhodes said. “It helped because we have so much more experience now."
"The biggest thing was we had a lot less experience, and that made a difference," Kibler said. "It was nerve-wracking at first, because I was afraid to make a mistake, but we overcame that fear."