This past weekend, the Duncan Lady Demons made their way to Tulsa to accept their trophy as Class 5A Academic State Champions.
The team also got a first-hand look at what might have been as they came one game short of qualifying for the state tournament and becoming the Cinderella story of the season. The Lady Demons started the season with a 4-12 record and turned it on at the end of the season, winning five of their last eight games to finish with a 9-15 record. And if they could have kept on playing, they would have.
“The best way that I can describe it is before we got home, they were ready to come back and continue to play,” Duncan coach Andrew McClung said. “Most of the time late in the season, they are tired but they wanted to know when offseason and summer basketball started.
“The girls worked hard and they finally saw success. We kept working and it finally began to fall together for them.”
Youth played a big part in Duncan’s early season struggles as six sophomores, including four in the starting lineup, represented the backbone of the team. Hollee Stewart was a mainstay in the first five and served as the lone senior in that capacity after Rachelle Carr suffered a season-ending injury.
Because of past struggles, the deep playoff run was a new experience for both seniors and underclassmen and while the scoring load fell mainly on the shoulders of the sophomores, the role played by the seniors helped lay the foundation for future success.
“You never heard a whimper or whine and that is the type of kids that you need,” McClung said. “We lost Rachelle but she continued to come to practice and helped with drills. As into the game as she was, that was huge.
“The seniors should be proud to know that they were the ones that helped jump-start the program.”
It will be on the corps group of sophomores to maintain the momentum gained from the last season run. Duncan’s improvement was attributed to the maturity of the first year players, particularly on the offensive side of the floor where mistakes proved costly early in the season.
“The kids literally had to learn on the run and they did,” McClung said. “It was frustrating to me and it was frustrating to the girls. We knew that we had the potential to be pretty good.
“If we had continued to struggle, it would have been an uphill battle this off-season. But they now have that confidence. They want to be there. What they have taken this year is something they can take into the offseason and preseason.”
With that momentum will come a new pressure as the team will need to make the adjustment to playing with new expectations. McClung feels that the good news for the team as it looks forward to a new era is that everyone is on the same page.
“The only fear comes from the outside with the expectations,” McClung said. “Duncan is the first place in 10 years that the coaches coach, administrators administrate and the parents cheer.
“I don’t think a school can compete at the state level without the community support. This year, people continued to support the girls and that is huge.”
Even during Duncan’s struggles this season, the Lady Demons never wavered in their goal of reaching the state tournament. That same goal for next season in already in place.
“Our goal doesn’t change,” McClung said. “We want to go to state. Our goal is to compete in the state tournament every year.”
— Michael Pineda is the sports editor for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 143, or via e-mail at m.pineda@duncanbanner.com.
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