TYRONE – On June 5th, 2013 five seniors on the varsity girls’ basketball team will graduate from Tyrone Area High School.
The five graduating seniors are Alex Brooks, Nicole Gripp, Stephanie Hammond, Alayna Hettinger, and Morgan Taylor.
“These seniors have worked extremely hard over their past six years here…they have developed into very successful high school basketball players,” Luke Rhoades, girls basketball head coach, said.
Alayna Hettinger, senior on the basketball team, says that she is ready to graduate but she is going to “miss playing and all the people she has met in her career at Tyrone.”
Fellow senior Stephanie Hammond said that she’s going to miss “playing with everyone and all the good memories we’ve developed together.”
Alex Brooks, the senior starting post position player said “it has been a great time wearing a Tyrone jersey. I will surely miss the whole basketball program and I wish I could play in college.”
In the off-season, the remaining underclassmen will be training and preparing for the upcoming season.
“I will surely miss all the seniors. They were the biggest part of our team for a couple years now,” Jordyn Swogger, junior, explained. She also stated that the team may never be the same again.
Lucy Raftery, who is also a junior, was very close to all of the seniors. She stated, “it will be really hard to watch all the girls leave. We have all became so close and they are all my best friends.”
Rhoades also admitted that he is going to miss their dedication and commitment. He said that one of the reasons they were so successful was due to the fact that they were fully committed.
“It will be so hard to come back and watch the girls play and know that I won’t be able to be out there with them,” Hettinger said emotionally.
Hettinger also believes that if the upcoming team works their hardest they will be able to keep the program on the right foot. She also stated that, we [the seniors] will enjoy coming back and seeing how everyone has improved.
Coach Rhoades explained, “All five girls will be very successful in their lives out of high school. They all have a good family base and they know what it takes to work hard and be successful as a result of the hard work. I think these girls are truly role models and I hope one day my daughter [Angelina] will look up to them and work hard and be successful like they are.”
Graduation for these students is June 5th, 2013 at 7:30 in the High School Auditorium.
The girls’ basketball team’s 2013-2014 season will begin in November 2013.
