Going into their first playoff game as the no. 13 seed, junior Ella Burvee said the Huskies did not put their attention on their ranking, rather they focused on what they could control in the game. 

“I don’t feel like our team really thought of it like seeds because we really saw ourselves as having an equal amount of talent as them,” Burvee said. “Our whole team did a really good job of preparing in every way. We watched a bunch of film, our intensity was very high and we made sure that we knew the players regarding and their tendencies.”

Leading up to the game, girls varsity head coach Tiffany Dirks said the team spent lots of time studying the Blue Valley offense and defense in order to come into the game prepared.

“We watched probably 15 hours of film, we did film studies with the kids, we changed some of our plays, some of our offense and defense,” Dirks said. “We knew who their best player was, she’s a great point guard and so we had a strategy to stop her.”

Despite coming into the game knowing what they were up against, BVHS took a hold of the lead quickly, and by the end of the first quarter, BVHS led BVNW 14-4. 

 “I think in the first quarter it took us a minute to click and we outscored them in the second half but it just took us too long to be aggressive on offense,” Burvee said.

One threat Dirks noted on was Blue Valley’s junior point guard, Jayden Wooten. According to Dirks, the team’s defense focused on shutting her down. 

“I think that our defensive presence on Jaden Wooten was phenomenal. We had three different girls guarding her,” Dirks said. “ I know she didn’t score as many as she’s used to so they did a good job.”

However, at halftime, the Huskies trailed the Tigers 27-10. According to Dirks, the team discussed what they needed to improve on in the second half to make it a closer game.

“The sense of urgency that we were playing with [needed to increase] and our ability to take shots, we were timid on our shots,” Dirks said. “We wanted to reinforce our belief in the kids and their abilities, but we needed to speed up the game a little bit more and move the ball faster than before.”

Throughout the second half, the Huskies began to catch up with the Tigers but were ultimately not able to pull ahead. The game ended with the Tigers defeating the Huskies with a score of 41-32.

“I’m disappointed for the girls. They worked extremely hard preparing for this game,” Dirks said. “I think they executed very well. We missed a few shots which kind of put us on our heels for just a few minutes in the first half, but I think that we actually played a better game. I’m just devastated for these kids.”

Additionally, while losing in the first game of the playoffs was not what the team wanted, junior Josie Grosdidier said she was proud of how the team played.

“I thought we did what we needed to do. I mean, shots didn’t fall but I think we played really well. We played as a team so I thought overall good game, just disappointed with the outcome,” Grosdidier said. 

With this game marking the end of the season, Grosdidier reflected on the season and said despite their record, she feels the team has grown as a whole.

“We’ve had a rollercoaster of a season. There’s been ups and downs. Some games that we maybe should have won that just fell out of our hands, but I thought towards the end of the season, we were growing as a team and really got together and pushed our way through this,” Grosdidier said. “Although our record doesn’t display our work to get here, I think we played well, and I think we made steps to better next season.”