Despite her team’s loss to Emmaus in a Class 6A quarterfinal game, Northampton senior guard Annie Beenders saw plenty of positives in their season. The Konkrete Kids reached a main goal by reach districts.

“I think this season was great no matter the ending,” reflected Beenders. “We all worked hard and reached our goal in making it into districts and all grew from the beginning of the season. It is definitely going to be difficult because these girls are like family to me and I’m going to miss playing with them and being around them because they always brought out the best in me.”

Head coach Jeff Jacksits leaned on Beenders and fellow senior Jenn Raysely for their experience and leadership. He saw a range of emotions along the way.

“This season could be described as the hills and the valleys,” said Jacksits. “We either won games by large margins, or we lost by large margins for the most part.

“Our highs were the 40-point win at Pocono Mountain West, and our last win vs. Freedom which secured our district spot. The lows would be our losses to Dieruff and Allentown Central Catholic, both games we thought we had a good chance to get wins, but we fell short.

“The strength of this team was our senior leadership and the overall team camaraderie, they really worked hard and had fun playing together. We as coaches could see the improvement of all the players from the start to the end of the season which will hopefully carryover to next season.”

Despite the losses of top scorers Beenders – a second-team East Penn Conference selection – and Raysely, Jacksits envisions a positive outlook for next season.

“We will return three starters for next year,” added Jacksits. “We met our expectations this year by competing in the district playoffs. Win or lose, it is always a great experience to motivate the underclassmen to elevate their game.”