Girls basketball continues to ‘Rise’

Amelia Knopp, Senior Staff Writer

Posters around Manhattan High School feature the girls basketball team’s six seniors — Callie Carson, Paige Chauncey, Ally Ingram, Avery Larson, Saylor Salmans and Destiny Yates — posing in front of the word “RISE.” This is the seniors’ chosen motto for this season. 

According to Larson, opponents view the MHS team as underdogs, especially as MHS started its season without the post presence of injured Chauncey and injured junior Maxine Doerring. 

“[Rise] was a word that we felt represented us and that we were going to rise and push through no matter what adversities we faced,” Larson said. 

MHS opened the season with a 2-5 record heading into the winter break. However, the pieces are now falling into place with the return of Chauncey and Doerring in January. MHS earned an upset win at home against the No. 1 team in 5A, Emporia, on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

“Knowing that we’ve kind of been on a [bit of a] losing streak and we’ve been a little bit down on ourselves, just having the full team gave us the motivation to get a really good win,” Chancey said.

Three seniors — Chauncey, Larson and Yates — contributed double digit scoring for the Lady Indians, who prevailed 58-55 in the double-overtime thriller. 

Freshman Kat Ball also emerged as a key player for MHS in January, leading MHS in scoring with 15 points in a loss at Washburn Rural on Jan. 13. 

MHS then suffered a defeat at the hands of Blue Valley Stilwell on Friday, Jan. 20, with a final score of 41-56. 

As MHS heads into the remainder of the season, they hope to channel the energy and confidence-boost from the Emporia victory. 

“I think we hustle a lot harder than a lot of teams and we’re kind of an underdog,” Chauncey said. “That is a good place to be in because we don’t really have a lot to lose.”