To some, winning is everything. To others, losing isn't an option. For them, beating their opponent is the main goal.

For head coach Billy Hallman, and the Northwestern girls' JV basketball team, they have their mind set on something more.

"My main goal is to have fun," Hallman said. "Some people laugh at me when I say that, but I want them to have fun while they are playing. My goal going into every year is to be .500 and be competitive every game."

His team achieved both goals, for the most part, as it finished 10-9 this season and according to the seventh-year coach was only in a few games where a win was out of reach.

Heading into the 2013-14 campaign, achieving both of those wasn't a sure thing as there were only nine girls on the roster, all of which were embarking on their first year of basketball at the junior varsity level.

"I didn't really know what to expect when the season started," he said of his squad. "It is very different from when they go from our freshman program up to JV because we practice nothing like what they do on the freshman team. So I was a little nervous on how they were going to do."

The nerves disappeared quickly after the girls jumped out to a 4-1 record to begin the season on their way to collecting the first ever girls junior varsity win for Northwestern over Pleasant Valley.

Hallman is proud of his 10-9 record and the individual growth of every girl, but he is also proud of the number 14 as his goal is to have every girl score in every game and they achieved that 14 out of the 19 games this season.

He was also proud of how two sophomores progressed this winter.

"The first one is Taylor Slack," he said. "She was very timid when this season started and became a captain before the first game.

"After starting 4-1, we lost four or five games. Taylor stepped up as a leader vocally and by the way she played. She got everyone back together.

"The other one is Laura Pasquale. I ask a lot of her because she was my point guard. She didn't come out [of the game] a lot.

"She had the ball a lot and had to score. Earlier in the season, if she would miss a shot or two, her head would go down. Midway through the season, we played Emmaus into overtime and she hit a three and ever since her confidence has been great."

Slack and Pasquale showed their growth and leadership on the court and many of the other Lady Tigers followed suit, such as junior Marissa Yandersits; sophomores McKenzi Divers, Haley Hebelka, Isabel Dietrich, and Emily Kyle; and freshmen Sarah Kromer and Sommer Farthing.

Winning may not be the focal point when Hallman and his teams hit the court as having fun takes center stage. However, the play of his girls this season allowed them to both win and have fun doing it and that is something Hallman could get accustomed to.