By Sue Moore
The elephant in the room for Schoolcraft’s girls’ basketball team is its undefeated season: 19-0. “We don’t look past the next game but we did have to talk about it recently,” Coach Steve Kulczyk said. “We try to discuss everything and talk it out so we can have a drama-free gym. Ours is a family environment.”
The team stepped up to the challenge and defeated Constantine 67 to 31 in its last regular season game. It was senior night and Homecoming all in one big event; that can be a distraction. Fortunately, the team came through with a big effort. Lydia Goble had 16 points, Kennedy Leighton 9 points to lead the way.
“In the beginning of the year, seniors Goble, Leighton and Gabi Saxman were key to our success as they had the most varsity experience,” Kulczyk said. “But they realized early on they needed the youngsters to step up and play a bigger part to take us all the way to an undefeated season. The seniors gave us great leadership while Rosey and Schuppel and the others were coming along.”
The Eagles begin District play on their home court with a bye in the opening round and will play the winner of the Marcellus-Decatur match on Wednesday, February 28. District tournament play is always hazardous because some of the teams with modest records have nothing to lose and will play all out to get a win, Kulczyk said.
“Our team has a lot of heart. They defend the perimeter really well and play hard all 32 minutes, usually wearing our opponent down,” Kulczyk said. He has been coaching in Schoolcraft since the 1991-92 season, six of those years with the varsity girls team. He teaches physical education in the Schoolcraft elementary and middle school.