Melcher-Dallas’ girls’ basketball team may have finished with a losing record, but their mental toughness will be the main highlight for them in 2020-21.

After playing their first three games of the season, the Saints were shut down for a month due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the high school. After coming back, Melcher-Dallas went on an impressive tear, winning seven of their next eight games, including a run to the Bluegrass Conference Tournament Championship, where they lost to Moravia. 

 

After the tournament, four of the Saints’ five starters had to sit out due to COVID-19 contact tracing. On top of that, Junior Hailey Hoch was lost for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Coach Kelsey Goff tells KNIA Sports that she was incredibly proud of her team for fighting through all of the adversity they had to endure.

 

“I was very happy and impressed and excited for all of them. I know it didn’t go the way we wanted it to in the big picture. But I think when we look into it and take it chunk by chunk because the season was divided into chunks. We did a lot of good things, just the group of seniors, and then towards the end of the season, the JV girls got a lot of experience, so all-around a great season.”

 

Melcher-Dallas finished with an 8-11 record in 2020-21, with a first-round playoff exit to Martensdale-St. Mary’s.