“I don’t get it. I don’t understand. There was no real pressure. What’s going on here?”
In a nutshell, here’s what was happening: Trailing 37-19, West Carrollton was well on its way to losing its 11th straight game this season and 63rd in a row. The Pirates, who would give anything for a bus ride home from an away game that wasn’t silent, last won Jan. 17, 2009, and it remains the only victory in a 78-game span going back four years.
The reason Harden didn’t understand Wednesday’s performance was because, regardless of the record, things have been different around the West Carrollton program this year.
Last year’s team — which, like the year before, went 0-21 — lost games by an average of 40.1 points, said Harden.
Last week, the Pirates lost to Valley View in triple overtime. The two games before that they fell to Franklin by four points and Carlisle by five. Earlier in the season they lost by six to both Xenia and Ross.
Harden, in his first year with the Pirates, said he’s had area coaches come up to him and say: “That’s a whole different team this year. Their whole body language is different.”
Wednesday night, the Pirates reverted back to old ways.
The Hamilton team was bigger and more experienced, with four senior starters and a junior. West Carrollton countered with two freshmen guards, a sophomore and two seniors. Only one player stood taller than 5-foot-6.
“I think some of our people got scared of them and they shouldn’t have,” said senior Michaela Schwing. “We should have kept our cool.”
Instead, the Pirates melted. And it didn’t take long for the 10 Hamilton guys sitting courtside — most of them football players — to begin razzing them about their miscues. It was a a scenario Harden has seen play out too many times this year, and that’s when he made a quiet admission:
“When I took over this job, I didn’t realize how emotionally draining it would be. It’s because in the midst of coaching them, I find myself rooting so hard for them. I just want them to finally experience some wins.”
Eaton last victim
Back at the West Carrollton gym on the eve of the Hamilton game, the four seniors on the team stayed after practice and talked about what it’s been like to endure one of the longest active losing streaks in the state.
Only two of them — Schwing and Crystal Caldwell — have played four years for the Pirates. They are the only players to experience a victory in a varsity uniform.
“It was freshman year,” Schwing said. “We beat ... aaah ... oh, my gosh, who was it? I remember they were purple and gold.”
Caldwell thought a second: “Was it (Vandalia) Butler? Dade Christian? ... I remember it was close.”
She’s right there. It was 50-45, and the team they beat was Eaton.
If the players have trouble recalling the lone victory, they have no difficulty when it comes to some of the indelible moments from their losses.
“Last year was awful,” Schwing said. “After games, some students would come up and say, ‘So how bad did you guys lose by last night?’ It made me feel like we were nothing.”
Although he’s new this year, Harden has picked up on that:
“These kids have endured a lot. They’ve kind of been cast aside as losers. Some people make fun and there’s been a lack of respect.”
At games that sometimes surfaces with opposing fans or the other team.
All the players mentioned Springboro, which beat the Pirates by 77 last year.
“Not only did we get our butts kicked, but we felt pretty belittled because they didn’t have any respect for us,” Schwing said.
Caldwell agreed: “They were laughing at us and joking around on the court in the middle of the game.” Her voice trailed off and she didn’t finish her thought.
“We just want to prove people wrong,” filled in fellow senior Imani Woods.
“We’re not going to give up or quit just because we don’t have a winning season,” Caldwell said. “We’re working this year and things are changing and I think the younger kids on the team will be able to build on it.”
When you listen to the Pirates, you can’t help but pull for them. You’ve got to admire their perseverance.
In four years there have been few cheers and almost no pats on the back and victorious bus rides back home after games.
“The dressing room after games and the ride home is always the same,” said Caldwell. “On the bus we might put on our head phones and listen to music, but no one is talking. It’s silent. There’s not a peep.”
‘Kids are buying in’
When Brian McKnight left after last season, West Carrollton got about 10 inquiries for the girls basketball job, said Athletics Director Rob Dement.
Harden, a Vandalia Butler grad who had been an assistant coach with the men’s team at Cincinnati Christian University and the Middletown Madison boys team, stood out. He’s a counselor at Fairfield Middle School and he laughed when asked if that’s what the team needed — a coach and a counselor: “It didn’t hurt.”
When preseason practices ended, he had 22 high school players. That was enough for a varsity and JV roster, but the school wasn’t able to field a freshman team.
With a minimal feeder system, he’s found himself teaching more fundamentals than he figured he would have to.
“The kids are all buying in, though, and it shows,” said Dement, who noted they were up on Valley View by four with 30 seconds left in one overtime.
“It was crazy,” senior Dorian Broyles said of the Valley View game. “That’s the first time I ever played an overtime game here.”
“And that’s the first time where I looked around late in the game and saw my teammates smile,” said Schwing.
Harden said the loss “crushed the girls. There were a lot of tears. .... And I’ll be truthful, that night I maybe slept an hour. I kept rethinking what I did.”
Dement said “it’s no longer a question of will this team win, but just when.”
But Wednesday that was not the case, though the Pirates did play Hamilton almost even in the second half and some players showed flair. Schwing finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. McKenzie Hild and Jordan Cochrane came off the bench, played aggressively and combined for 15 points.
After the 67-46 loss, Harden took his team into the dressing room and brought up some things that needed correcting before Saturday night’s game at Trotwood-Madison.
And then the players all headed out of the Hamilton gym, trudging through the darkness and rain to their waiting school bus for another long ride home — in silence.
About the Author