Smoyer praises his Napoleon girls after one-loss season on the hardwood
By Mike Moore
Staff Writer
Napoleon – The girls basketball state finals were played Saturday at the Breslin Center.
By all accounts, Steve Smoyer and his Napoleon squad had plans of being there, and for the better part of the winter, made a point to show they just may be good enough to do so.
And that’s just part of what makes a single loss so tough to accept, especially when it ended the Pirates’ season.
“It’s really a mix of emotions when it ended,” Smoyer said of the season, which wrapped up last week in a 40-30 loss to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep in a Class C regional final. “In the end, if we had one loss this year, it was going to be a big loss because of where it was.”
The Pirates ended the year 24-1, and roughly a week after that lone loss, Smoyer had nothing but praise for his girls and the season they put together.
“I’ve probably never been more proud of this team than I was in that game,” Smoyer said of the loss. “Especially defensively. We held one the best teams to one of their lowest outputs of the season. We gave ourselves a chance to win. In the end, there were just a few things we didn’t capitalize on.”
Arbor Prep, which played for a state final in Class C, averaged 58.9 points per game this season.
The 40-point output was the third lowest of the season.
“Winning is tough. It’s not easy. Every game that other team is trying to win too,” Smoyer said when asked to put into terms the 24 wins in a row. “For me, it was preaching how they had to become students of the game to find ways to win. They did that. They were prepared. They played a lot. They understood what the game was all about.”
This was a group that won a lot, though, and did so for a long, long time.
Smoyer coached a good number of his current players from third grade on at every different level.
“We grew up together,” he said with a laugh. “We’ve traveled all over together. We’ve been together a long time. … I think that’s part of what made the loss to tough to accept. It’s hard to believe this is over.”
The Pirates are set to lose six seniors from this year’s group, including all five starters.
“It’s going to be tough, but we have some very good kids in the program,” Smoyer said of next winter. “Playing time was limited for a lot of the girls we’ll have coming back, but they learned a lot. We’re not going in the tank or anything. With some summer work and dedication, we’re going to come back ready to go.”
Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’
Love, Defined is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tate Publishing or by contacting Mike directly.