By DEB GRUVER

Staff writer

The six girls on Peabody-Burns’s basketball team are learning more than fundamentals of the game.

They’re also learning perseverance.

Despite standing at 0-8 for the season and losing games with scores of 95-4, they still show up for practice and games.

“They keep fighting, and that’s great to see,” their coach, Austin Weaver, said.

The score was 35-0 in the first quarter of their Jan. 6 game against Little River — the one that ended 95-4.

“Let’s go play some basketball” was their attitude going into the second quarter, Weaver said.

The school didn’t have a girls team for a couple years due to lack of interest. So Weaver and the players — only one of whom has played at the high school level —definitely are in a rebuilding season.

The Warriors also have been beleaguered by illnesses and injuries. They had to reschedule two games around Christmas because players were sick or nursing sore muscles.

Mady Goossen played basketball at the school her freshman year. A 6-foot-3-inch senior, she mostly plays post.

She said she and her teammates were “trying to make the most of the season no matter if we win or not.”

“I think for us we’re trying to get a program back in,” she said.

Players keep each other propped up.

“We all get along pretty well,” she said. “It’d be bad if we didn’t with such a small team.”

As far as she knows, no one has considered quitting.

Weaver isn’t giving up either.

“I’m super proud of them. The community is super proud of them,” he said. “The girls have been feeding off of that.”

Two freshmen, one sophomore, two juniors, and Goossen play on the team.

The district’s eighth-grade team is “pretty solid,” Weaver said. “It will be really fun to look back at this season.”

Arianna Wilson, a junior, played in junior high.

She enjoys spending time with the team and learning new skills. About three weeks ago, her left hip starting hurting. She hasn’t missed any games because of it, but on Friday, she practiced with it wrapped.

The team doesn’t worry too much about whether it wins or loses.

“We just don’t get mad at each other,” she said.

What life skill are they learning with a 0-7 record?

“Teamwork,” she said.