The girl’s basketball returning letter winners are from left, Cati LeVan, Makenzie Cauley, Kristin Bailey and Frani LeVan. Despite a depth-depleted roster, the Lady Cardinals are just a half-game under .500 for the season.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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Triad Lady Cardinals have had amazing campaign despite depleted roster
The regular season of the high school basketball campaign will be drawing to a close during the coming weeks.
Soon, it will be tournament time for the 10 boys and girls hoop squads that comprise the Union County area.
If there is one team that fans can say has greatly overachieved this winter, it is the girls squad from Triad High School.
Third-year head coach Jeff Merklin has been plagued by the numbers game as there are only 11 girls in the program, two of whom are foreign exchange students who had never played basketball prior to this season.
To add insult to injury, the Lady Cardinals have been hit by the injury and illness bugs.
Now, there is rarely a basketball team that has managed to get through an entire season without a twisted ankle or a bum knee here or there.
And every coach knows that it’s nearly impossible to complete a season in which one or more players doesn’t come down with a case of the flu.
Merklin has had to contend with both in the past few weeks. There have been some games in which he’s only had seven players, including the exchange students, at his disposal.
Still, the Lady Cardinals have soldiered on.
Triad had only seven players in uniform about a week and a half ago when they traveled to Logan County to face a very good Indian Lake team.
The Lady Cardinals stuck out their chins and not only took the Lakers into overtime, but also came away with a victory.
Going into the last full week of January, the Lady Cardinals are just a half game shy of the .500 mark, which has to be considered remarkable considering they go into most contests way outgunned and overmatched.
Merklin sent me an e-mail last week with one of his game results, commenting how discouraging it has been with a lack of depth.
I understand where the coach is coming from. He would love to see more athletes in the program to help build the team for the coming years.
I can certainly agree with him from that standpoint. Any coach worth his or her salt wants more numbers with which to work.
In my book, however, what this team has been able to accomplish with such a depth-depleted roster can’t be considered discouraging.
Simply put, it has to be considered amazing.
Whether the Lady Cardinals equal or surpass last year’s 12 victories remains to be seen.
What cannot be denied, however, is the coaching job that Merklin has done this year.
It’s too bad that Triad is in the Southwest District.
I’m on the Central District board, so I can’t vote on district honors for any Cardinal athletes or coaches.
If Triad resided in the Central District, I’d be making a lot of noise down in Columbus about the coaching honors Merklin should receive for this season.
He’s gone a great job.