Eagan girls’ basketball ended their season on March 5th with a loss to Cretin-Derham Hall. Although the Wildcats were initially in the lead, the Raiders rebounded and won the section game 58-42.

“In the first half we were ahead for a while, and then they came back and made all of their shots, and we just couldn’t finish ours,” shared junior center Abby Gaedtke. That Wednesday was the only time Eagan and Cretin-Derham Hall competed against one another this season.

Gaedtke said that despite having a final record of 7 wins and 20 losses, she was not disappointed with the team’s performance throughout the season. “There are just so many games we have lost within five [points]. We could have won more games than we did because of how close they were,” she remarked.

“I would say that our biggest challenge was picking our heads back up after some tough losses we had,” admitted senior forward Kelli Wickard, a captain. Nevertheless, the team managed to keep their spirits up. Wickard revealed, “After every Friday night game our team would go out to Buffalo Wild Wings or Applebees.” She continued that her best memories of the season took place when hanging out at team members’ houses after eating out together.

Gaedtke strengthened the optimism among her teammates by giving positive feedback regardless of the score. She believed that “pointing out the good things that people have done or the team has done throughout the season rather than commenting on the bad stuff” was most beneficial and effective for the players. She concluded that the team should be proud of the handful of losses that were within 5 points, explaining, “Even though we lost, we kept it close.”

The girls’ most impressive victory this season took place against Bloomington Jefferson in January, when they defeated the Jaguars by a 14 point margin.