A lot of Heart and Hard Work

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary Eagles finished fifth in the Copper League this past week. While they had hoped to finish higher up in the tournament, Head Coach Brett Haines said the players played with a lot of heart, worked hard and improved a lot throughout the season.

While the Eagles had more than 25 players fifth through eighth grade, only three players were in the eighth grade.

Eighth-graders Sawyer Shelmerdine and Chase Haines have played with the Eagles since fifth grade. Haines said they were both strong players and offered good leadership for the team.

Eighth-grader Oskar Murphy was new to the team this year and Haines said he showed a lot of improvement.

"They were good kids and they did well for me," said Haines. "I'm proud of them and wish them the best in high school."

Haines said he's looking forward to developing his ten seventh graders next year. He's hoping that they can put some height on over the summer since they are shorter and smaller than their opponents.

"They all will continue working on their dribbling, passing, and shooting and will just continue to grow as a basketball player," said Haines.

One of the highlights of the season for Haines was beating Clinton at home Nov. 28. When they played them earlier in the season they lost 7-32. When they met them on their home court the Eagles won 25-17.

"The kids just played great. It was one of those games where the kids were doing what I knew they could do and we beat a team that beat us," said Haines. "When we played like that we were a tough team."

The Eagles were seeded fourth of the six teams in the small team Copper League Tournament. SLE faced fifth-seeded DesMet for their first game.

Haines said the Eagles were down by about 10 points in the last quarter and they made a run for the win but just ran out of time.

"We just didn't play our best basketball [the whole game]," said Haines who added the biggest struggle this year was consistency. "If we would have played like we did against Clinton we would have won that game."

Then they took on Missoula International School and finished with a win for the season. Haines said he was able to rotate in the players that didn't see as much playing time in the DesMet game.

"I look at effort, good attitude and if they can get the job done," said Haines. "I start rewarding kids with more playing time that are working hard. They have to learn that for high school anyway."

Haines said the fifth and sixth grade B Team was up against seventh graders most of the year. Despite going against taller, stronger kids that were more mature, Haines said they played with a lot of heart.

"They played hard and never quit. I'm really proud of them," said Haines. "They didn't win a game but they were out there battling. It's about learning the game of basketball and trying to get them to do things correctly."

Haines is looking forward to getting his players more time on the court outside of the regular season at some of the area three-on-three tournaments and summer basketball camps. Haines trusts that the extra time on the court combined with, hopefully, a few growth spurts will make the Eagles a tough team to beat next year.