9C Tournament Extra: Eva Wagoner hopes to turn around Pioneers

The Big Sandy girls basketball team has not recently been thought of as one of the top teams on the Hi-Line. But junior Eva Wagoner is hoping to help turn around the Pioneers and make them a competitive squad in the District 9C. While they were only the No. 7 seed heading into the district tournament, Wagoner believes Big Sandy has had a promising year.

"I think we've progressively gotten so much better, especially since last year," Wagoner said. "As a team, we're all coming together and I think we're going to have an even better season next year."

Even though Wagoner started her basketball career in the fifth grade while living in Big Sandy, she learned the most about the game when she lived and played in Great Falls during her eighth grade and freshman years. After reaching success during her time in Great Falls, Wagoner was done with losing when she came back to Big Sandy.

"Going to Great Falls made me love basketball more because Big Sandy's known for losing and just learning to win made me want it more when I moved back to Big Sandy," Wagoner said.

With no seniors on this team, Wagoner feels like she had to step up as a junior. She was also inspired to become a leader after freshman Eva Yeadon transferred from Malta and immediately became a voice in the locker room.

The Pioneers began the tournament on Wednesday with a 55-49 loss to Chinook. Wagoner led the Pioneers with 20 points as she went 4-for-10 from the field and 11-for-13 from the free-throw line. Even though they lost, Wagoner believes the close loss to a higher seed demonstrated their improvement as a program.

Throughout the school year, Wagoner keeps herself involved with athletics as she also competes in track and volleyball. Outside of sports, she enjoys the outdoors doing activities such as camping and hiking.

Today, Wagoner and the Pioneers hoped to keep their season going as they played in a loser-out game against Chester-Joplin-Inverness. Before she got on the court for possibly the final time this season, the Havre Daily News got the chance to ask Wagoner five questions.

HDN: What do you love the most about basketball?

Wagoner: "Just the social aspect. I feel like it benefits you in so many ways for life and learning to work as a team and learning that you have to put time in in order to get better at things and just learning how to communicate with people."

HDN: What else have you learned from basketball?

Wagoner: "That mental health has a lot to do with it. It's really a mental game and I know that I'm a completely different person when I don't have good mental health."

HDN: What is the most difficult part about basketball?

Wagoner: "When you do one thing wrong at the beginning of a game and just not letting that bother you because I've had so many games. Even this game (against Chinook) I had about three travels right off the bat and I was like, oh well. I didn't let it upset me and usually I do. I think that's just the hardest is to not let little stuff like that get you down or else you will have a bad game."

HDN: Out of the three sports you compete in, which is your favorite?

Wagoner: "Track because I succeed the most in it. I love basketball but I think I do better individually because I'm not so worried about doing something wrong that will affect my teammates."

HDN: As you get ready for your senior year next season, what do you hope to see?

Wagoner: "This season was just kind of new coaching, new player in Eva Yeadon so just putting it all together and getting used to relaxing we can win. We put more work in this summer and it's just going to progressively get better next year and even when I'm gone after my senior year, I know they'll do even better."