Photo courtesy of Stephanie Boyd
The Pampa Hustlin’ Harvesters (23-13) had their season come to an end on Tuesday at Wayland Baptist University against Cooper-Liberty 71-42.
It was the second straight season for this group of seniors to make the playoffs and win two playoff games.
“It is a great accomplishment for these seniors to win two playoff games in back-to-back years,” Head Coach Braydon Barker said. “I am extremely proud of them for putting 4 more gold balls in the trophy case.”
The Harvesters will graduate 10 seniors from the basketball program in a couple of months, and Barker said he couldn’t be prouder.
“These seniors put a lot of time and effort into this program over the past four years,” Barker said. “I can't thank them enough for what they did for this program. I wish them the best of luck on their future endeavors.”
Making a playoff helps more than just the varsity squad. This playoff run was two more weeks for the younger players to get a few more reps in while other teams are at home.
“The extra two weeks of practice was awesome for some of the younger guys coming up from the JV,” Barker said. “We are going to be leaning on them the next two years, so I am glad they were able to get some playoff experience.”
That being said, next year will be a season for reloading, not rebuilding.
“We will have an almost entirely new varsity team next year after losing these 10 seniors,” Barker said. “Luckily, we will return two starters from this year's team and our JV is coming off a 20-5 season. The group that is coming up from JV love being in the gym, so I expect them to have a great offseason to be ready for next year.