After winter sports were scheduled to start and rescheduled repeatedly in West Virginia, many teams were worried if they would get to play during the 2020-2021 season. While Linsly’s 8th grade girls’ basketball team faced many challenges and forced limitations during their season, the girls ended with a tremendous record.
Led by Coaches Morgan Brunner and Joey Seabright, Linsly students Zaniah Zellous, Haylen Cook, Jade Purpura, Abby White, Addison Grubler, Gianna Landis, Rachel Rutherford, Charli Griffith, Ilayna Murray, and Olivia Creely won every game they played, with a 6-0 record at the end of the season.
Although they were unfortunately limited to 6 games, the girls dominated at the ones they could play. This season was spectacular for them, and included many highlights for their defensive and offensive players.
Scoring over 60 points in one game was one of those highlights, along with having an average lead over their opposing teams of more than 20 points. The team’s average number of points was 42 per game. Additionally, team members Haylen Cook and Zaniah Zellous averaged 16 points per game individually.
Coach Seabright described one of the funniest moments of their season as well, after team member Olivia Creely had been fouled, “…The cheerleaders made a loud sound right when she was shooting. Olivia stopped her shooting motion, turned around, gave them ‘the look,’ and then calmly knocked down both free throws. I couldn’t stop laughing, as well as the parents in the crowd.” Creely’s free throws turned out to be essential to their victory in that game, as it was one of their more narrow ones, defeating the opposing team by a single point.
With an undefeated team, the Linsly Private School 8th grade girls’ biggest disappointment was the cancelling of their respective championship due to COVID-19. They also would have been able to utilize their skill at more than 10 additional games during a normal season. While the team missed out on some things during their last year of lower school basketball, their hard work resulted in a spectacular season. Best said by Coach Seabright, “They are all champions in my eyes!”
