Fremd welcomes home record-setting basketball team

Fremd High School showed its appreciation to the girls basketball team Monday - honoring the hard work this season that led to the squad's second straight second-place finish in the state tournament.

Vikings coach Dave Yates in turn thanked students and faculty at a schoolwide assembly, especially the fans who made the trip to Normal last weekend for the state finals.

"Those things energized us," Yates said.

The Vikings ended the season with a 30 wins and three losses, the best record for a Fremd girls basketball squad.

Team co-captains Bryana Hopkins and Brianna Lewis, both graduating seniors, agreed that bonding with their teammates is what they will miss the most.

But taking that camaraderie downstate, particularly this year, was their favorite memory.

"This year we enjoyed the fun, the moment," Lewis said.

Yates said the fact that his recent teams have been consistent postseason competitors is no accident.

"Obviously, you don't contend for state without talent," he said.

But it was his players' hard work and willingness to be coached that separated them from players with raw talent but not the discipline to improve, he added.

Monday's student assembly featured a fun contest in which the players competed one-on-one with faculty members to put a basketball through a hula hoop, make a layup and then a three-point shot at alternating sides of the court.

Though some of these duels were closer than others, the girls won every time.