Sports teams bond throughout the season and ultimately become somewhat of a family. The players view coaches as parent figures and the coaches care for their players like one of their own. Sometimes, coaches leave, which can cause a wide range of emotions from the players who have grown so close to them. Every sport at every level goes through this, but high school sports can have the most lasting impacts on the players.

The Alliance High girl’s basketball team was one of these teams that suffered a coaching change this past offseason, as coach Nate Lanik stepped down for family reasons. It was no secret to the students of AHS the way that his players felt about him. They truly wanted to go out and play, and enjoyed their time on the court. The whole attitude of the team was bright and proud, regardless of the outcome of a game. The coaching change came as a surprise to many, but none more than to the players. Senior Mickenzie Brennan said she knew the season wouldn’t be as she expected. “I knew it would be different than what I was used to, but I think we were all open minded about the situation and pretty excited for the season to be here finally,” she said.

The girls’ season started off placing seventh at the Western Conference tournament, gaining their first win of the season over Sterling West, to improve to 1-2 on the season. The team then suffered a series of losses that truly tested the team’s character. Everything that was happening was building and building, until news broke that first year head coach, Joe Kaup had resigned effective immediately.

Losing a head coach is hard to bounce back from fast, but to do it immediately half way through a season seems impossible. Assistant coach Hedi Manion would serve as the head coach for the rest of the year. Senior Emily Jensen said that Manion helped them realize that they needed to move on. “Coach just told us that the past is the past and there was nothing we could do about it,” said Jensen, “it was time to look at the future and stay positive.” And stay positive they did.

It could be sensed immediately that the mood on the team was different, the players looked to enjoy their time on the court again, and for the first time this season, they were once again enjoying the game that they all grew up loving. “I think the attitude of the team after the change was better.” Said Brennan, “We all knew that the season hadn’t been that great, so we were all going to try our best to make the most out of the rest of it.” This was perhaps most prevalent when the Bulldogs defeated the Scottsbluff bearcats, a team that had beaten them by 42 points a few weeks prior. All the players came together and worked for the outcome. ““We became a family again,” said Jensen, “we played for each other.”

The way the girls refused to quit made them an exciting team to watch play down the stretch. The girls showed true heart and passion for the game, refusing to quit. Brennan commended the whole team on their never quit attitude. “I think we didn’t give up because we are a family and we are all dependent on each other, and no one wanted to let anyone down. We helped each other through everything that happened.”

The girls’ season came to an end on February 23, in Gering in the first round of Districts as the girls dropped a heart breaking 35-37 loss to Gering. The game was a perfect summary of the season, as the team came back from down six with just over a minute left, to have the ball with a chance to win the game down just two points. Even though the Lady Bulldogs didn’t come out on top, and they didn’t have the record they wanted, this passion for the game that the girls showed is something that will be remembered. It is something that we all can learn from and remember that making the best of a situation and pushing on is better than giving up, because you never know what might happen.