Grace Meyer received three special awards when the Seymour girls basketball team was honored at its banquet Monday night in the school cafeteria.
Meyer topped the team in scoring this season with 420 points in 25 games for an average of 16.8 points per game.
She scored a career-high 33 against Shelbyville in the East Central Holiday Tournament, had 29 against Silver Creek and 27 against Jennings County and scored in the 20-point range four other times.
She also pulled down 195 rebounds, and coach Jason Longmeier said that is the most points and most rebounds he has had one of his players accumulate during one season since he has been head coach at Seymour. He just completed his eighth year as head coach of the Owls.
Meyer earned all-Hoosier Hills Conference first team honors, scoring 116 points in seven HHC games for an average of 16.6.
Aidan Hiester, the lone senior on this year’s team, received the coaches award and was named HHC honorable mention. Her high-point games were 16 against New Albany and 15 against Batesville, and she scored in double figures in four other games while playing both point guard and shooting guard.
Longmeier said she was an excellent team leader and displayed an excellent attitude.
“We’ll miss Aidan,” he said. “She was a great person that represented our program in a great way. She has the respect of the coaches in our conference”
Alyssa Perry received the assist award for dishing out 86 assists, and Longmeier said that is the most any of his Seymour players has had in one season.
Jamya Miller received the scrapper award, while Grace Schrader was named the most improved varsity player.
The Owls were 8-17 overall and 3-4 in the HHC. Longmeier said the Owls played the 16th toughest schedule in the state. Their opponents compiled a 380-250 record, won six sectional titles and four regional championships and two of them (Salem and Linton-Stockton) are playing for state championships this weekend.
Considering the Owls were replacing a lot of key players from the 2018-19 team, this was a definite retooling year for them.
“This is the first year we’ve had to replace a whole lot of pieces,” Longmeier said. “Basketball is tough. If you’re not very good, you will get exposed. I think we’ve got to coach hard and teach hard. Our goal is to have them go into life prepared.”
Longmeier said his girls got better each time they stepped on the court.
“Our kids got better every day,” he said. “The kids went into games well prepared. We did some really good things. We want our program known for toughness. We set a foundation on what we need to do to get better. They want to get better. We’re starting to do good things in our youth programs.”
Junior varsity coach Amanda Gerth introduced members of the junior varsity team. She said they had a record of 7-16, and she announced Kaylee Waskom as the most improved player.