Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

2018-19 freshman boys basketball team achieves the highest winning percentage from any Liberty freshman team ever

Mollie Banstetter

The freshman boys hanging out on the bus on their way to Parkway South

London Powell, Reporter

Some freshman teams tend to not do as well as JV or varsity teams, mainly due to the fact that the players haven’t worked together before.

But that was not the case with the Liberty freshman boys basketball team. They went and became the team with highest winning percentage from any Liberty freshman team ever.

“I think it’s cause we knew each other well,” said Alex Fillner. “We had a really good chemistry because we have worked with one another before.”

During the season, the team had a 14 game win streak and ended the season with a record of 19-3, only losing against two different teams (Rock Bridge and Fort Zumwalt South).

The team went above and beyond what everyone thought of them.

“I remember at tryouts the first day, I was like ‘oh god’, but in the end they blew all my expectations out of the water. They played a lot harder than my past teams,” Coach Luedecke said.

This team created a very memorable season. From being co-champions of the regular season to losing in the finals of the GAC freshman tournament, the season had many highlight worthy moments.

“The most memorable part of the season was definitely when we played Fort Zumwalt South,” said Luedecke. “It was the first time that we had beaten them at home, on the freshman level.”

When a team does this well it raises the question, How?

“Before games they would gather in a group and just move around the room together. The group of guys we had were just super close and I think that’s why we were so successful,” Luedecke said.

In this team’s case, teamwork really does make the dream work.

London Powell
Freshman Jordan Smith makes an easy two-pointer against Timberland.

Here is the game by game scores and opponents from the season:

LHS @ Troy. Win 46-27

LHS vs CBC. Win 58-43

LHS vs SLUH. Win 36-27

LHS vs Rock Bridge. Lose 57-52

LHS vs Timberland. Win 52-21

LHS @ FZ East. Win 44-27

LHS vs FZ South. Win 36-34

LHS vs FZ North. Win 50-48

LHS vs Clayton. Win 50-42

LHS @ Holt. Win 46-36

LHS vs Vianney. Win 48-46

LHS @ Washington. Win 48- 31

LHS @ Timberland. Win 52-51

LHS @ Lafayette. Win 45-42

LHS @ FZ North. Win 54-19

LHS vs FZ East. Win 52-23

LHS vs Washington. Win 62-41

LHS @ Parkway South. Win 48-30

LHS vs FZ South. Loss 51-39

LHS vs St. Charles. Win 59-35

LHS vs Howell. Win 45-41

LHS vs FZ South. Loss 52-24