POLSON — Before this season, the Polson girls basketball team had a 66-game losing streak. However, this season the Pirates are looking to go in a different direction.
"I came over last year. I saw that Polson's an amazing city, it was just a rebuilding project and I like rebuilding teams," Polson girls basketball coach Ryan Antos said. "It has been great."
And with that rebuild came their first win in over three seasons against Libby, 68-27, as well as winning the following game against Missoula Loyola Sacred Heart earlier this season. And their reaction was priceless.
"They're very excited, a lot of hugging and crying going on in the locker room and there was just a good feeling but the thing that was most impressive is they said that's not their last one," Antos said.
And that wasn't the last one, as Polson is now in contention to make it to the divisional tournament for the first time since the 2016-17 season. And the last time the Pirates girls basketball team had won three conference games was 10 years ago. So what has changed this season?
"The amount of work they put in over the summer and how hard they work every week in practice," Antos said. "They've really changed how they played basketball and you can see it on the court. It has more excitement."
And that excitement comes from a level of confidence that each of these girls was able to find
"It's watching the girls gain confidence that they may or may not have had before," Antos said. "Watching them work hard and then see the benefits of that work, that's the important part. That's why we coach. It's not so much wins and losses, it's letting these young ladies know that if you work hard, and sacrifice and do all this stuff, good things will happen."
