Liberty North girls basketball is off to a historic start this season. Under a new head coach, the team started 8-0 and has outscored their opponents 513-311. The team’s first loss of the season came against a talented Shawnee Mission South this week.
However, since Sydney Ritter, the six-year former assistant basketball coach for Bishop Miege, has taken the helm of the program, the girls team has been dominating.
“I take my experiences as an assistant coach and back from when I was a player and have tried to create a culture and an environment where players know what is expected of them, but also know that I am there for them and believe in them. The only way I can measure at this point how we are doing is if we can get back on the bus at the end of the night and have played our hearts out and given it our all together, a win is just an added bonus,” Ritter said.
Liberty North is coming off the 2022-23 season where they finished 17-9 and dropped round one of the district tournament to Park Hill. Last weekend, the team traveled to the iconic Hoosier Gym, where the movie “Hoosiers” was filmed, and they ran away with a huge win over Park Hill 74-46.
“We had a blast at Hoosier. It was a great team experience and we took care of business, which made the trip even more enjoyable,” sophomore Millie Perry said.
That was just one of the memorable wins thus far for the Eagles. On Dec. 14, the team traveled down to Bishop Miege, the current Kansas state champions and Ritter’s former team, and won, 50-48.
“The best memory so far would be beating Bishop Miege because we are all so grateful for Coach Ritter and we really wanted to get that win for her,” Perry said.
Ritter’s coaching is backed up by some of the best players in the state. Senior Kennedy Herrig is committed to Western Illinois University and is the leading scorer for the Eagles. The 5-foot-11 guard has been a key factor for the Eagles, averaging 19.4 points a game. Herrig scored 28 of Liberty North’s 74 against Park Hill.
“This season, the mentality seems to be that we all want to prove ourselves. It started with wanting to prove ourselves for our new coach, and once we did that, I think we all saw how good we can be when we play together so now it’s a matter of proving we can beat any team,” Herrig said.
The team credits their winnings to a strong team bond and work ethic. Since the season has started, the team has helped with Special Olympics, done trivia fundraisers and visited local elementary schools.
“Since I got here, I have pushed that you have to be together on and off the court, you have to include everyone, you have to trust each other and you have to have fun while you do it. Our senior leadership and the ability those seniors have to bring each other together is a big key to that,” Ritter said.
“We do what we do,” is the saying this team has ridden so far this season. It started back in early December when sophomore Alex Couch was interviewed during the Liberty North Invitational, and from there, the team has ran with it.
“After that, everyone continued to say it as a joke, but it has caught on as kind of our team motto. ‘We do what we do’ just sums up that we can’t let other teams dictate our body language and how we play. If we stay true to ourselves and stay together as a team and just do what we do and what we have prepared for, the sky’s the limit for us every single night,” Couch said.
The sky’s the limit, indeed, for this Liberty North team with history in the making.
“Our ultimate goal is to take our team all the way to state, but we always emphasize game by game and play by play. We want to build up our team with each win so we are ready to roll when the post season comes,” senior Ava Levings said.
The team takes the court one more time before winter break, playing Raytown South in the 12 courts of Christmas.