As senior guard Haley McCarver dribbles the ball for the last time on her home court against Fayetteville Feb. 19, she experiences a bittersweet feeling.

“It was our last home game at Har-Ber and so we wanted to win. We wanted it to be a really good game, so that everything we’ve worked for these past three years–it would just be good in the end,” said McCarver. “It was bittersweet because we’re going to miss it.”

Senior Tayleah Neal has similar thoughts as McCarver.

“I just wanted to win our last game at home,” said Neal. “Fayetteville was getting better, so I wanted to be sure we came out there and took care of business and do what we needed to do.”

McCarver and Neal have both been on the team since their sophomore years. Neal started during the game Feb. 19, but though McCarver did not start, she did play.

The Lady Wildcats defeated conference rival Rogers Feb. 22 in a game that decided who was seeded No. 2 in the state playoffs. The 42-40 victory sealed in history a moment for the Lady Wildcats, who have never made it into the tournament at such a high seed.

“We might finish second – which is the highest we’ve ever placed in the state tournament,” said junior point guard Sam Weber.

Weber happily reminisces about the game against Heritage that they had Feb. 15. She believes it to be one of the best games.

“It was a big game to decide how high ranked we could get because there were three of us that were all tied and we all just played really well in that game,” said Weber. “Bailey Schalk had, I think, 27 points that game. She had a high scoring game. She helped a lot. It was a fun game because we all worked really hard together.”

With all eyes on the five players on the court it can get a bit nerve-racking especially when the player misses an important shot or makes a turnover.

“When you miss that sucks because you know your team’s counting on you to make a shot,” said McCarver. “You can’t let that get to you. You just got to keep going, keep your head up and just know you’ll make the next one.”

“If the whole team is working together and no one’s getting mad at each other or getting frustrated – that’s success,” said McCarver. “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, but if you play as a team and you work hard – then that’s success.”

At the time of printing, the Lady Wildcats were scheduled to play the winner of the West Memphis-Bryant game March 1 at 7 p.m. Winner of that game advanced to the semi-finals March 2.