Carterville Lion fans the basketball season has come to an end. This season was fairly decent with there being some really good games and some exciting games for the fans. 

Starting with our freshmen team, there were many new boys on the team, some of which played in Junior High and others joined for the first time this season. Freshman Maddox Gulley said, “It’s been a real learning experience transitioning from junior high. Everything about the program is different, but I feel that both I and the rest of the players in my grade have made real strides.” 

The junior varsity tean did pretty well this year considering they had many freshmen on the team. They won several games and were able to impress the coaches by winning games that they weren’t expected to win. Even though they weren’t able to win as many games as varsity, they did a good job of making fans and coaches proud.

The varsity team did well this year and even won their conference this year as they had lost some really good guys and gained some new ones.  Senior Brandon Skelcher said, “Well it’s definitely not the best feeling in the world because I obviously wish I could keep on going but on the flip side I’m glad I’m here with the guys on this team and going out with a big bang and hopefully a big run in the postseason.”

With many freshmen coming in and many seniors leaving, there was no telling how this season would have gone. With a few really good seniors leaving last year, it scared coaches to see what this season would bring.  “ I wasn’t sure how the season would go because of who we lost last year. Going into this year, we had a lot of question marks with the lack of experience that we had” said Coach Shane Hawkins.

This season has come to an official end with a saddening loss against the Benton Rangers at the Regional Championship with an ending score of 48 Lions and 64 Rangers. The Lions community could not have been more proud of the seniors this year and the rest of the team supported them this season.