Burlington Middle School girls basketball season comes to an end, looks to next year

Middle school girls recently wrapped up their basketball season and the Burlington Lady Huskies saw growth and learning opportunities throughout. They had 20 athletes out consisting of five eighth graders, eight seventh graders and seven sixth graders.

“In the first round of playing teams, the Huskies performed well, sticking to their preferred game style of driving to the hoop for the easy shot,” said Coach Mike Aagard. “One of the most exciting games of the season came against Powell. It was a close game and a defensive battle. We ended up losing that game, but we realized our potential and realized that playing well on defense is key in any game.” 

As Burlington started playing the same teams a second time, they ran into some problems as the other teams made adjustments. “We had several teams change to a 2-3 zone defense that forced us to rely on our outside shooting and gave them some big advantages when it came to getting rebounds. These adjustments proved to be difficult but by the tournament we had gained confidence in our outside shots and we were able to be competitive in the tournament. 

“Overall, we had an awesome year. We did not win as many games as we would have liked, but we did improve by the end of the season. We also learned an important lesson, that we need to put time in outside of the season for next year. Even though we are losing five awesome girls, we look forward to the future with the girls we have returning. They are fun to coach and watch. They come to practice everyday with a smile and a willingness to learn.”