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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Huddle and man it hurts to say this, but the Columbus Lady Cardinals were eliminated in the State Semi-Finals.
First things first, so many people doubted Columbus could even make it back to the State Tournament. They lost their paint presence in Ally Tribe and barely snuck into playoffs, so a lot of people were thinking Columbus was taking a step back.
Meanwhile, they ran through every team in front of them and all the way to the State Tournament. So, the step-back take some were saying about this team doesn’t really hold up.
That’s because this team never quit.
They never quit on a ball, they never quit in a game but most importantly they never gave up on each other. This team was so close, and they wanted to hoist a championship together so bad that they were willing to do whatever it took.
Players changed their play style, bench players started to contribute more offensively and even the leaders took a back seat role to let the young core take over games. Of that young core Anaya Gardner was the most prominent name to emerge and she was in her bag all playoff long.
She had her breakout games during the regional playoff where she scored 20 or more points in all three games. Gardner was a player waiting to be unleased all season and when the lights were bright, she delivered in a big way.
Oh, and she’s a freshman.
That only drives my point home further with this team, everything they accomplished this season. The highs, the lows and everything in between, they did it together.
It didn’t matter to them if you were a freshman, barley played varsity or have some varsity experience under their belt. If you were wearing a Lady Cards jersey you were a part of the team which means you were part of the effort.
None of the players complained, tried to put themself before the team and all of them took pride in working together to ensure success. The Lady Cards basketball team is going to look completely different next season with a few seniors leaving the team.
But rest assured Lady Cards fans this team is very much in good hands because they have built a very strong foundation to continue to build their program on.
