Boys’ & Girls’ Basketball Finished Year with some High Marks
With basketball no longer playing, The ReSporter, wanted to mention some of the players and stats that were accomplished this past season.
It was not a banter year by any stretch with both Boy’s and Girl’s Teams finishing with their worst seasons. The Ladies woes were more from having lost one of their strongest teams last season and not having enough players coming up to fill those voids this year.
“This was an enjoyable year,” Head Girl’s Coach Zach Burleson stated. “It has been great group of young ladies to be around. For sure it was difficult at times, trying to lean on the fly. The schedule was pretty tough but we did improve throughout the year.”
Adding salt to that proverbial wound was navigating this season with Covid concerns which added to those situations mentioned above.
“For our Seniors, I really appreciate them,” Coach Burleson admonished. “Two outstanding young ladies that I am really proud of. They will be missed and both will be successful and for our returners, we need to get to work and become better at the fundamentals. A lot of work needs to be put in.”
Coach Burleson finished, “We do have a good group coming up next year. I’m excited for that as well.”
There were only two Seniors on this year’s team, Kaitlyn Cox and Shelby Murphy and both had some tough shoes to fill and leading by example certainly being in the cards.
Murphy played for two years on the Varsity with a minor role last year before being thrusted in the limelight as the player to bring the ball up and distribute the ball for the offense.
Murphy led the team with assists (29) and steals (60) which those numbers would have been much higher if not for losing so many games due to the China Virus. Murphy finished 15th in steals made in a season and ended in 12th place for steals for a career with 92.
Cox finished her career playing 3 years on the varsity and had 30 three point makes for 8th on the all-time list and was two places below Murphy in steals leaving CL placed at 14th for that stat.
Cox nudged into 10th place for rebounds (312) and 12th place for blocks (25) as she was needed to fill several roles as this season played out. Cox led the team this year with blocks (13) while leading CL’s team with made free throws.
The Lake’s Boys team ventured out with a new offensive strategy that relied on causing a controlled chaos and scoring points in bunches. The Hawks suited up 21 players during the coarse of this season as Covid played a key role for this team too.
“It was certainly an interesting and tough season for us,” Head Coach Lucas Chapman started. “Aside from some struggles on the court, we were a little unlucky, like many other teams, with COVID issues. I think we would certainly like to have played better and been more competitive, but at the end of the day, I hope and believe that our kids had a good time competing each day. I feel they learned some valuable life-lessons through the trials and tribulations of the season that will make them better young men when they leave high school and battle in the real world.”
Yes, it was an all-of-the-above type of season as these Hawks finished 2nd in points scored per game finishing just behind the 2019 Hawk team.
Canyon Lake did have their best year for rebounding and that was a result of a new offense that had shots being plentiful from beyond the arc and that increased rebounding especially on the offensive board.
The Hawks did have some players that rose to the top in many categories even with a season that had only 25 games due to the Wuhan thingy.
“I am proud of our seniors. It is not the way I would have liked to have sent them out, but it is what it is,” Coach Chapman continued. “(Tyler) Pauly was really unbelievable this season. He had a really incredible year individually and did some really good things. We had to have him do probably more than he is comfortable doing, but by the end of the season, he was filling up the stat sheet in many areas. He really grew into our leader this season, and I look forward to him racking up some hits, strikeouts and wins on the diamond this spring.”
Pauly replaced some records that had been standing for a long period of time. Assists would be a stat that embodies teamwork as a point guard runs an offense and having a player that can dish the rock for shots goes a long way for getting everyone involved.
Pauly passed (pardon the pun) Doug Hubnik for the all-time lead finishing his career breaking the 200 assist threshold finishing with 214 as two years playing on the Varsity.
“I am really proud of Colton (Winters).” Coach Chapman said. “Here is a young man that certainly does not fit the mold of a basketball player, but he overcame some of his physical limitations and turned into one of the better scorers in school history. He improved probably more than any player I have coached over the course of four seasons. He is also a great kid, and I look forward to coaching him on the golf course in the next couple of months.”
That is just a sampling of accolades but losing a Tuff Cantu and Matt Taliaferro, to name a few, for extended times during this season due to Covid did not help and turned a bad situation worse when installing a new offense.
Here are the All-Time and Season marks that made this year with some exciting moments. These records did not have as many games played that other players enjoyed but there was certainly a lot of highs to enjoy.
Way to Go Hawks!!
SEASON BEST CAREER BEST # Place # Place Tyler Pauly 118 2nd ASSISTS Tyler Pauly 214 1st Peyton McMullen 34 4th BLOCKS Peyton McMullen 60 3rd Tyler Pauly 47 8th STEALS Tyler Pauly 81 4th Peyton McMullen 60 16th Tuff Cantu 40 19th Colton Winters 40 19th Peyton McMullen 117 17th REBOUNDS Peyton McMullen 236 11th Tyler Pauly 164 15th Tyler Pauly 84 4th FREE THROWS Tyler Pauly 124 4th Colton Winters 56 13th Colton Winters 61 14th Colton Winters 78 1st 3PT GOALS Colton Winters 81 3rd Tyler Pauly 25 16th Tyler Pauly 34 14th Tuff Cantu 25 19th Colton Winters 368 8th TOTAL POINTS Colton Winters 396 10th Tyler Pauly 251 16th Tyler Pauly 378 11th Peyton McMullen 223 17th