Eagles look for a successful senior-led season

Nov. 26—SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Eagles girls basketball team anticipates another successful season after finishing 12-9 last year. The Eagles return with another strong squad and a desire to earn a district title.

"Last year we had a really good season," said Eagles Head Coach Leonard Lundgren. "We were one game away from going to state."

At the end of last season, the Eagles made it into the second-place game at districts where they ultimately fell to Pateros to take third in the Central Washington B league. While this was an earlier end to their season last year, it leads to strong prospects as they enter this season.

Soap Lake had no seniors on the squad last season, which means they are returning their full squad from last year alongside a few new faces, said Lundgren. This year the team has five seniors with Brooke Dana, Mylee Dana, Liana Sushik, Sage Hart and Tanya Zubritskiy all making their return to the court following their volleyball season.

"We should have a really good year, is my expectation," he said. "(With) five seniors, some freshman and a junior we should have a very successful season."

Lundgren said the Eagles are going to work toward improving upon last year's performance along with building themselves as a team and having each of the girls meet their own individual goals. These will all lead up to their number one goal for this season, which is to make it to the state tournament.

"That's been a goal of mine for the last 10 years, most of these girls play volleyball so they've been there," he said.

After working with this senior class of girls for the last seven years, since they were in junior high, the coach said he is very confident in this group. Throughout this season he hopes the experience from the seniors can help build up the younger players and inspire them to work their hardest.

What will be important this year for the Eagles will be to fine-tune the little things that hurt the team last season. He said this will help them as they work to overcome the top two teams in the league in Waterville-Mansfield and Pateros.

The strategies from the seniors will be key to the success of the team, said Lundgren. Last year Brooke averaged a double-double each game, Sushik had a career high of seven three-pointers in a game, Mylee had great success on defense earning over five steals per game last season and both Hart and Zubritskiy showed great athleticism on the court.

"I think (the seniors) want to go to state so bad, so I think they're willing to do anything (to get there)," said the coach.

One of the challenges that Lundgren said he is anticipating this season is trying to find ways to stay positive and, on their game, regardless of the score. When games get tough, he wants the players to learn how to keep their heads up and be comfortable knowing they left it all out on the court and bounce back the next day.

He said with the start of the season approaching it is exciting to see where the team goes and to get to have one last ride with this group of seniors.

"I just want these girls to go and have fun, especially the seniors," said Lundgren. "I'm here to help them out and win games and be there for them, but just go out there, just have fun."

The Eagles' first game of the season will be at home Dec. 5 where they will host Waterville-Mansfield at 6 p.m.