PCS shows growth on, off court

For a high school athlete, growth can be shown in a number of ways. This year’s Perkins County girls’ basketball season hit a number of achievements to show its growth.
The team was led by seniors Hallie Fisher, Meghan Bishop, Kylie Tucker and Autumn Anderson.
PCS Head Coach Deanne Bishop said, when she thinks of the four seniors, she thinks of the word resilient.
In a season when injuries and illness threw a monkey wrench into the team’s plans, the Plainsmen kept working.
“When the going got tough and it might have been easy to throw in the towel, these girls stuck with it and continued to make themselves and their teammates better,” Bishop said.
Bishop prepared a three-year comparison to show the improvement during the seniors’ careers.
“It’s clear to see that Hallie, Meghan, Kylie and Autumn have played key roles in helping our program ‘trend up,’” Bishop said, pointing out this is the first time since the 2012-13 season the PCS varsity has had double-digit wins.
January was especially brutal. The team went 2-7 in the month and finished the season 10-12.
That, in part, is a testament to their perseverance in doing “the hard things,” Bishop said, including weights and 5,000 Shot Club sets in the summer.
With a long season that includes many late nights, Bishop said these girls have learned how to be masters at time management.
“While basketball in and of itself is a huge time commitment, they were also simultaneously involved in other activities like cheerleading, FFA, Mock Trial, Speech, STUCO, Quiz Bowl, NHS and One Act. Through all of this, they still managed to keep their academics a priority,” Bishop said.
The seniors were a great example for Perkins County’s underclassmen, Bishop added.
“These four seniors emulated our program’s core values: work hard, be coachable, be a good teammate, have fun. So while the scores on the scoreboard during a season are important, ultimately we hope our players get even bigger wins — those being some of the life lessons they learned by being a part of our program,” she said.
M. Bishop and Fisher were two of only four players to see action in every game.
Statistically, PCS will return a solid base for next year. Sophomore Kailee Potts led PCS in scoring, 16.9 points per game, and freshman Libby Cole was the team’s top rebounder.