With the end of the basketball season in early February, let’s look back over the past few months and see how the Radford Basketball teams did. The boys ended the season with an overall record of 9-11, just below a .500 average, meanwhile, the girls had an astounding 17-6 season, placing them 2nd in their league.
The girl’s season went fairly smoothly, winning seven of their first nine games before beginning an impressive 9-game win streak from Dec. 27 until Jan. 26. With big games from the Ram’s top scorers senior Jirah Villanueva and senior Julissa Bollinger, and a dominating win against Waialua in a 56-point blow-out, the Rams coasted to a 16-2 record on top of their league. The regular season came to a close with two losses to out-of-league teams, having no effect on the girl’s postseason dreams. On Feb. 5 the girls traveled to Maui to take on their first postseason opponent and returned home with a 37-36 victory. With their return came back-to-back games on Feb. 7 and 8, both losses ending the girl’s season.
Meanwhile, the boy’s team had a cold start, only winning three of their first 11 games. But luck for the Rams would soon turn around, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 11 the boys would go on a 5-game winning streak. Big performances by the team leader in scoring, junior Caden Williams, scoring 20+ points in 4 of the 5 games helped propel the Rams to an 8-8 record. Going into the last 3 games of the season the boys had high hopes and good morale. Losing two of their last three, Radford was set for one final game at Kalani. During their final game, the Rams put in their all but came up short in a final score of 54-53.
Head coach Travis Armstrong commented on which games had the biggest impact on his season. “All of the games impacted our season but two in particular come to mind. Our 2-point loss to Leilehua because it gave us the confidence to understand that we can compete with the best teams in the state. Our last game of the season against Kalani had a huge impact because it ended our season. It was a reminder that no matter how hard you work in life sometimes things come up that we can not control and it can make a big impact.”
Although the boys came up short in their game against Kalani, they have plans to improve ahead of next season. “One thing we will be focusing on is improving our shooting. At Radford, we have a high rate of player turnover due to a lot of players having parents in the military. With this we are constantly striving to improve our teamwork and continuity,” stated Armstrong when asked what could be changed ahead of next season.
