When Springstead’s girls basketball program played its first games in 1976, its current players were certainly a long way from roaming the Earth. Even head coach Jay McNerney wasn’t born yet. It has taken 40 seasons, 15 head coaches (two of them for multiple stints) and 862 official games, but the Lady Eagles will finally play in their first regional playoff tilt on Thursday when they travel to Seffner-Armwood for a 7 p.m. contest.
For sophomore guard Reagan Huden, she only had to endure one of those previous 39 campaigns that ended with a loss in the district tournament. That doesn’t mean the gravity of the situation has escaped her or her teammates. “This season we started out 5-0, 6-0 and we were so happy,” Huden said. “Then we had a few losses but we bounced right back. We kept working because we knew what we were capable of doing. We wanted to make history at Springstead. We worked hard and we did it.
“Coach constantly reminds us that we have a really special team and we have the chance to make history at Springstead. Once a week he reminds us we have a chance to do something Springstead basketball has never done. So all of us were well aware of what we were doing. To be the first team at Springstead to (make regionals), it has meant something to us. We’re glad to be a part of it.”
At 16-8, the Lady Eagles are enjoying their winningest season ever, and will finish over .500 for the first time since 1992-93. Huden has played a pivotal role, averaging 11.6 points, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals during the regular season. “She’s had a tough season shooting-wise, but teams can’t press us because of her,” McNerney said. “We’ve had talented teams in the past, but we never had a true point guard and that’s what she is. She sees the floor like nobody I’ve ever seen.”
Huden has indeed settled into more of a point guard this season, after pacing the team in scoring as a freshman at 17.3 points per game. She also averaged 3.3 assists and 4.9 steals.
However, as both she and her coach pointed out, she hasn’t put the ball in the basket at as high a clip, shooting 32 percent from the field compared to 47 percent as a freshman, and 28 percent on 3-pointers compared to 54 percent a season ago.
“I realized my shot wasn’t going in, so I had to step up my game in other aspects,” Huden said. “I was making sure to pass the ball to others, creating plays for everyone else.
“The difference from last year is all the other girls stepped up and got better over the summer. It wasn’t just me scoring all the points.”
That suits Huden just fine, as she considers herself more playmaker than scorer. She knows the game well, having played since she was 3 years old when her mother, working as sports director at the local YMCA, got her active in athletics. Basketball came naturally, and her passion for the game grew. “She’s had the basic skills from the time she was a little kid,” McNerney said. “She’s had that base. That and she loves the game. She loves to play.
“I kind of had a feeling she’d step back this year. She came out and averaged 18 points per game her freshman year. It’s hard to top that. Next season is going to be good. We’ve just got to fine-tune her game and her defensive footwork.”
Huden has high hopes for the future. She’d like to play in college, and has her eye on the school scoring record, which is 875 set by Hailey Enjeneski. She was already at 600 prior to the district tournament. But she has some other goals in mind. “I definitely am looking to accomplish going to regionals in the next two years and winning districts, not being runner-up,” Huden said.
After soundly beating Mitchell in the Class 6A, District 8 Tournament semifinals on Wednesday, 57-35, with Huden scoring 12 points, Springstead fell short to host Sunlake in Friday’s title game, 69-36. That set up the Lady Eagles to play on the road this week, where they’ll try to keep their finest run in four decades alive.
“I’m really excited,” Huden said. “Even though we didn’t win (Friday) night, no matter what we play on Thursday. We’ll all be working hard this week at practice and hopefully win regionals.
“I honestly don’t know what to expect, because we’ve never been to regionals. If we just hustle, rebound and defend, I think we’ve got a really good chance of winning Thursday, and hopefully we’ll win more games throughout regionals.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.