Girls basketball players receive honors

 The girls’ basketball season ended with their banquet Thursday, March 26. The ceremony began with some desserts and a slideshow of the girls throughout the season. The slideshow also included a segment featuring the seniors.

 Lisa Miller, frosh-soph girls coach, spoke first.

 Before talking about the girls, she started off with all of her thank yous. Thanks went to Skello for helping with defense, Robert Reagan and Tom Akers, Dawn Lewis and Jeff Hannam for all their work as athletic directors, the secretaries, everyone who helped with the stats, the bus drivers, the parents and her family for their support. 

 "The frosh-soph record was 3-13, but that does not reflect how close some of those games were," commented coach Miller as she went over the teams highlights. “Some of these highlights were beating Wethersfield, pulling together as a team, and beating Galva.”  

 After that she went on to talk about each of the girl and their stats. Sammi Stevenson, fg% 29.9, 3pt% 12.5, ft% 51.6, reb. 124-45, asst. 12, avg. pts. 10.5; Emily Schmoll, fg% 27.8, 3pt% 36.4, ft% 53.8, reb. 50-12, asst. 24, avg. pts. 6.5; Chelsea Mitro, fg% 22.9, 3pt% 0, ft% 43.5, reb. 82-33, asst. 13, avg. pts. 4.1; Emalee Brink, fg% 14.3, 3pt% 0, ft% 43.5, reb. 68-29, asst. 5, avg. pts. 1.6; Aly Smith, fg% 29.3, 3pt% 0, ft% 0, reb. 22-6, asst. 3, avg. pts. 1.7; Hanna Swanson, fg% 17.6, 3pt% 0, ft% 30.8, reb. 21-12, asst. 5, avg. pts. 1.7; Brittney Bainbridge, fg% 2.7, 3pt% 0, ft% 54.5, reb. 24-12, asst. 4, avg. pts. 0.5 and Erika Roden, fg% 13.6, 3pt% 0, ft% 50.0, reb. 18-7, asst. 3, avg. pts. 0.5. 

 Then Miller had some awards to give out. She started with some personal fun awards that reflected on each girls personality. The Energizer Bunny award went to Smith, the Floaty award went to Stevenson, the Jolly Green Giant award went to Bainbridge, the Slap award went to Mitro, the bubble award went to Schmoll, the Sacrifice award went to Swanson, the Stick with it award went to Roden, and the Red Hot award went to Brink. Then she went onto the real awards. The Most Improved Player of the team was given to Brink. The Miss Hustle award went to Smith. The best offense award went to Stevenson. Best defense went to Mitro and the Best Free-throw went to Bainbridge. Schmoll was named the most valuable player of the year. 

 After finishing, coach Miller turned the podium over to coach Lewis, who started with her thanks. This list included, coach Miller and Skello for all of their help, and her family for allowing her to be gone so much. 

 Then she began talking about their season. "There are two ways to look at this season," stated coach Lewis, "I choose to look at it in a positive way. We faced adversity head on, we went out and played each game to our fullest potential, and we also had a good time." Lewis also mentioned that the team was not as successful as in years past, but they worked hard and played to their greatest potential. For the season, the girls had a record of 5-16. 

 After a few highlights of their season, coach Lewis went into each players statistics. Kiersten McKie, fg% 24.4, 3pt% 50, ft% 42.9, reb. 16-6, asst. 2, avg. pts. 1.3; Amanda Kruger, fg% 42.7, 3pt% 18.8, ft% 74, reb. 196-83, asst. 28, avg. pts. 12.6; Schmoll, fg% 25, 3pt% 0, ft% 0, reb. 4-1, ast. 3, avg. pts. .4; Ashley Kruger, fg% 37.1, 3pt% 0, ft% 38.2, reb. 116-49, asst. 28, avg. pts. 4.5; Marina Nuckles, fg% 25.3, 3pt% 20, ft% 37.5, reb. 59-18, asst. 31, avg. pts. 2.2; Danyelle English, fg% 34.3, 3pt% 16.7, ft% 47.5, reb. 140-62, asst. 13, avg. pts. 8.8; Stevenson fg% 31.3, 3pt% 0, ft% 38.5, reb. 27-13, asst. 5, avg. pts. 1.5; Mitro, fg% 16.7, 3pt% 0, ft% 100, reb. 4-1, asst. 0, avg. pts. .8; Jasmine Beam, fg% 21.3, 3pt% 18.5, ft% 50, reb. 1.8-.4, asst. 2.4, avg. pts. 3.6; Erica Nimrick, fg% 27.1, 3pt% 20.8, ft% 66.7, reb. 92-26, asst. 41, avg. pts. 10.4.

 Then Lewis went into her list of awards. The fun awards that Lewis had were: floor leader to Nimrick, sweet feet to Ashley Kruger, pin award to English, happy shooter award to Nuckles, best cheerleader award to Beam, fearless award to McKie, and the soaring high award went to Amanda Kruger. Then Lewis had her real awards. The Most Improved award went to McKie. The Miss Hustle award went to Nimrick. The best defense, best offense, best free-throw percentage, and most valuable player went to Amanda Kruger. 

 Lewis also named the All Academic Team which consisted of Nimrick, Amanda Kruger, McKie, Nuckles, Ashley Kruger, Stevenson and Mitro. 

 At the end of the ceremony, Lewis dubbed all the girls lady Ridgewood Spartans, for next years season. 

 This was not only the Lady Vikings last season, but it was also Lewis’ last season as a coach.