Beyond the Highlights with the Vienna girls basketball team

VIENNA (WSIL) — Tuesday night, we didn’t have any high school basketball highlights to show you because all games were canceled due to the inclement weather but that didn’t stop us from talking high school hoops.
The Vienna girls basketball team is 3-1 in the Black Diamond Conference. Last year they were 13-18 overall, and 6-4 in league play. This year they are under new direction. Rick Metcalf is in his first year as head coach and his resume speaks volumes. He’s in the Illinois Coaches Association Hall of Fame, he knows how to win and he’s already made an immediate impact.
“My philosophy is we want to be aggressive, sometimes over aggressive the way we play,” Metcalf said. “The very first drill we did they were like oh this guy is nuts. Right from the get go that is how we started things and I haven’t let up on them.”
“He came in, I seen him and I was like ‘oh man he’s terrifying’ but he has the will to win and I think that’s what this team has been missing, just a little bit, the will to win,” Vienna senior Emme Treat said.
“In the beginning, I felt everybody was scared and we adapted and we are ready for the push at practice. It prepares us for the game,” Vienna senior Addison Bent said.
The best part about it so far is they’ve bought in to the way I do things,” Metcalf said, “They play hard, work hard so that’s been a pretty easy transition.”
“We’re all definitely maturing so much and we’re definitely having so much teamwork this year and Coach Metcalf is bringing us together,” Vienna senior Emma Rush said.
Once the Eagles started to taste success, they started to think ‘hey, maybe Coach isn’t that crazy after all.’
“It’s definitely tough love,” Treat said. “Everything he says is never to bring us down, it’s to bring us up.”
Vienna may have struggled in recent memory, but Coach was quick to point out, there’s talent on this team.
“And you’re happy for the seniors that there was a season, but the one’s everyone forgets about, what about the freshmen?” Metcalf asked. “If there wasn’t a season, then they lose an entire year of fundamentals so to me they would have lost out just as much as the seniors. I don’t care, like most coaches what year you are, if you can play, you’re going to get a shot.”
“In the beginning, it was hard to form together as a team because we didn’t all know each other but when we started to form connections with each other and started to become a team, everything got a lot easier,” Vienna freshman Shaylee Moore said.
One of those senior leaders, Emma Rush, and she recently joined the 1,000 point club.
“I think we always had the talent, Coach is just embracing it for us this year,” Rush said.