Mustang girls cherish improbable ride to finals

By Michael Kinney
Mustang Times

The Mustang girl’s basketball team saw their season come to an end Saturday. Even though it concluded with a loss to Putnam City North in the 6A title game, the Broncos said they outperformed the expectations that had been set by those outside of the program.

“I feel like a lot of people didn’t think we were going to make it this far,” said senior Cherish Underwood. “We were just a good team. I feel like we played both sides of the floor. We have good defensive players and we got good offensive players and I feel like we could just do everything, so I don’t know. I just love this team.”

While others may have doubted the Broncos, coach Katie Bass said she knew she had a team that could compete with the best teams in the state. Even after they lost to the Panthers 79-58 during the area tournament, she said she still had a belief they could make a run.

“We play as a team. We play for each other. They give up the ball for the next best shot,” Bass said. “I mean, there was one possession where we dove on the floor, we picked it up, we pass, pass, pass, pass. We gave it up to the next person to get the best shot. When you watch that from the bench, it’s like, God, that’s beautiful. That’s what we’ve done all year is we play as a team.”

After that first defeat to PCN, MHS rolled off three consecutive win-or-go-home victories just to get to the championship finale. That included getting revenge against Bixby in the first round of state.

“It’s crazy. Just crazy. Everyone doubted us, especially Bixby because they came in thinking that they were going to beat us since triple OT, lost by one,” said senior Christal Long. “So, it was really good. Getting to this point, especially with this team here.”

But according to Long, it wasn’t any of the games that she will remember the most. It’s the time she spent with her teammates away from the court.

“Believe it or not, probably going out to eat with everyone,” said Long. “Eating with everyone was just the fun. We all were just having fun. We were all relaxed.”

Underwood had similar sentiments about how much being around her MHS teammates has meant to her. The emotions started to overcome her when thinking back on her career.

“They’re really special,” said Underwood, who has signed with Radford University. “We kind of grew up together these past four years. I just love this team and I just feel like they made me better. The coaches made me better, they gave me more confidence in myself and I just grew overall as a player.”

Bass also shed a few tears when she talked about what the seniors have meant to the program.

“These three seniors (Long, Underwood, Eliana Florance) have literally bought it since day one since they were freshmen. We got Eliana as a sophomore from Kansas, but she didn’t know anything about Mustang and she had to wait her turn Cherish, she’s probably the only one who played as a freshman. Christal had to wait her turn to as a sophomore and she started playing a lot as a junior. But they were loyal and all three are going on to the next level. Not a lot of coaches can say that, but for me, those three will always hold a special place in my heart. I think that’s the hardest thing for me.”

Mustang closed out the season with a 25-6 record and played the final game at the Big House. While others may have not seen it coming, it’s a level Bass hopes to maintain and exceed going forward.

“I always hang my hat on the fact that we have zero transfers and they’ve been very loyal to this program and loyal to each other and loyal to this team and loyal to me as their leader,” Bass said. “They listened. They were coachable and not a lot of coaches can say that.”