A long, tough season for the Emmaus girls basketball team ended last week with a 37-24 loss to Whitehall, spoiling Senior Night for four senior members of the girls basketball team.

Hornet players, Ky Anthony and Anne Glowacki, along with student-coach Mal Burns and trainer Phoebe Haberstumpf, were all honored for their time with the team.

Anthony scored two points in the loss, just under her season average.

Earlier in the season, Anthony scored 13 against Northampton. Glowacki averaged just under three points per game and reached her career-high in points this season when she scored 18 against Parkland on December 11. Glowacki was selected to play in the VIA All-Star Classic, which matches the best senior players against each other in a series of games. The classic is scheduled for March 30 at Northampton County Community College.

“These senior players may not realize all of their contributions, but they have passed on a lot of experience to the younger players who are going to be a part of returning Emmaus basketball to where it was a few years back,” said Hornet head coach Kelsey Gallagher. “The work that they put in this season and the help that they provided to the younger players will be part of that success that I think we’ll have down the road.”

Burns would have been among the senior players, but she tore her ACL in a charity tournament last fall and missed the entire season. Ironically, the same injury in the same tournament, happened to Cayley Grabowski before the 2017-2018 season and caused her to miss her senior season in both basketball and softball. At that time, Gallagher had the idea of having Grabowski serve as a student-coach and did the same with Burns this season.

“It’s so ironic that the same thing would happen in that tournament, but they’re both smart players and love the game, so after having such a good experience with Cayley serving in that role last season, it was a no-brainer to have Mal serve in that role with the team this season,” said Gallagher. “It’s terrible to have to miss your senior season because of an injury and I think it was good for them to still be a part of the team and the younger players benefited from the experience that they have.”

Another injured player, junior Stephanie Roccoberton, scored her first points of the season in the finale against Whitehall.

Roccoberton got into three games late in the season. She hit on a couple of foul shots against Whitehall and figures to be ready to play her senior season next winter.

“It was nice to see her get those points,” said Gallagher. “She’s worked hard to get back and just to get her on the court for a few games was a start and now, she’ll have time to work on her game and be back next season,” said Gallagher.

Sophomore Gabrielle Martin led Emmaus with six points against Whitehall. On the season, Alyssa Burkhart led the team with an average just over six-points per game, while Brooke Wunderler was right behind with just over five-points per game. Both players are juniors.

Emmaus finished the season 2-20 overall and went winless in the EPC.