Top Row : Coach Rader , Tae Eun Uhm , Olena Vasyltsova , Jackie Kim , Sarah Wilson , Tatiana Laroche , Coach Chan , Coach Bertken ; Bottom Row : Susan Park , Lauren Ryu , Kaitlyn Lee , Alice Park , Sarah Baek
1 . Alice Park guards her zone as she plays defense against an opposing player from KIS . The home game against KIS was a heated game , but the girls took home a win . 2 . Kate Youn , Sarah Wilson , Tatiana Laroche , Kaitlyn Lee , and Lauren Ryu watch the game from the benches . Even off the court ,
players had to concentrate and keep up with plays .
3 . Olena Vasyltsova breaks through KIS ’ man-toman defense . Other teammates hustled to their positions to run an offensive play . 4 . As she gets possession of the ball , Sarah Baek prepares to pass to a teammate . Sarah was the only middle schooler on the team . 5 . Tae Eun Uhm watches the point guard as she protects the paint . The girls played zone defense against Dwight . 6 . Sarah Wilson runs to her offensive position as one of the point guards , Jackie , brings the ball down the court . Most often , Sarah played forward position on offense .
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Undeniably , the basketball season centered around senior Olena Vasyltsova , the supportive pillar of the team whose injury and remarkable comeback defined the season .
With a successful start , the team won most of their games through the leadership of their star player . However , near the middle of the season , an unexpected event hit the team .
“ All of a sudden , during one of our drills , I turned around and saw Olena on the ground . It all happened so quickly ,” Alice Park , recalled .
Olena has a torn ligament which “ took at least three to six months to heal properly ”. Despite not being able to play , Olena worked harder to get back on the court early . “ I really wanted to play . As a senior , this was my last season . I went to therapy , I swam every day , I tried to heal as fast as possible ”.
Without Olena , the pressure load shifted towards co-captain , Jackie Kim , who admitted , “ In the beginning , it was really hard to cope with Olena gone .”
With their main scorer injured , all the players worked harder to fill her spot . This “ meant a lot of the newcomers that weren ’ t starters got to play which was good experience for them , but hard to manage ”, said Olena .
“ Susan improved like crazy . Her layups just kept going in , and her scoring average per game skyrocketed ,” remarked fellow teammate , Alice .
Near the end of the season , Olena ’ s injury improved .
Kaitlyn Lee pointed out that right “ after she got better , she put an ankle brace on her leg and got back into the game .” “ I played in Jeju and I played in KAIAC . Of course , I was kind of limping while playing , it wasn ’ t that good and it might have even hindered the team ,” laughed Olena .
However , with their leader back on the court , the team pushed past limitations , growing emotionally and mentally stronger . The girls won four games in KAIAC and all of their games in Jeju .
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