EDWARDSVILLE – Although it was all Edwardsville in the game, Belleville West, under former Carlyle coach Janelle Kuhn, showed flashes of brilliance, especially during a third-quarter run, and West is showing promise for the future.
Edwardsville won the game on Tuesday 62-21 at Edwardsville.
Kuhn is indeed doing good things with the Maroons, and her positive energy and enthusiasm rubs off on her players, which will help make the Maroons a contender down the road.
Edwardsville Coach Bryan Young gave credit to Coach Kuhn and her players for continuing to battle in the contest against the Tigers.
“She’s a real good coach,” Young said of Kuhn. “And you can see it in her kids, she’s just pouring energy into them, and you can see it when they play. They don’t quit, they just keep fighting and keep fighting, no matter the score, and keep trying and keep going hard. That’s a credit to Janelle, and their coaching staff.”
For the Maroons’ part, the players kept striving and playing hard for the entire 32 minutes, and Kuhn is very happy with their effort.
“We knew coming into tonight that it was going to be a tough battle,” Kuhn said, “and we were mismatched and outsized at almost every position. They’re well-coached, they’re well organized on the court, they’re physical, they want to run transition. So we knew kind of coming in we had our hands full. But, again, kudos to our kids, and that’s the one thing I always ask, is to play hard, good things will happen when you continue to do that.
“I don’t think we gave up, but at times, I was really frustrated with our turnovers, which turned into easy transition lay-ups, and that obviously peaked some frustration. But that’s the type of the battles we’re going to have right now, when we have freshmen, and sophomores on the floor in the Southwestern Conference against a really good team.”
The Maroons have three freshmen and five sophomores on their roster, and one of the standout sophomores was Ke’Vonna Baker, who showed much brilliance for West during the third quarter.
Kuhn said: “Ke does a really good job, and as a sophomore, she got key varsity minutes last year, even as a freshman. This week, she’s played really well. She had a lot of big moments (Monday) night in our win over Mascoutah, had some great passes and great takes tonight in that third quarter when we could have easily given up. But she kept playing through it. So, yeah, Ke has a very bright future. It’s a matter of we’ve just got to keep working. Keep working.”
That’s going to be the key phrase for the enthusiastic, positive Kuhn to her players – to “keep working.”
“Good things come to those who work hard,” Kuhn said with a smile. “That is our tagline, that is been my coaching motto for 16 years. Good things come to those who work hard, and we’ve got to keep grinding, and we’ll get there. It’s just a process right now, and we’re trying to get our kids to understand the bigger picture. We’re going to take our licks right now in the Southwestern Conference, but the goal is to bounce back, and improve every single day.”
Baker led the Maroons with nine points, while Josie Coughlin had four points, and Milayna Lewis, Wright, and GKohrria Green all had two points apiece.
The Maroons go to 5-13, and host O’Fallon on Thursday, then are at Freeburg next Tuesday, before hosting St. Louis Miller Career Academy on Jan 22, with all games starting at 7:30 p.m.
