Time for Virginia City to celebrate

What I love about 1A and 2A basketball is the way communities get behind their teams, and you won't find a more supportive group than the rowdy Mucker Faithful.

Win or lose the Virginia City gym is jam packed for every home game, unlike at many bigger schools where the fans only turn out for certain games.

A basketball game in Virginia City is an event, a happening. Parents and students alike come and yell their lungs out. The last two days have been no exception. Virginia City fans turned out in droves to cheer on their girls' team, which was striving to win the first state title in school history.

Mission accomplished.

A 49-28 win over McDermitt put the Mucker girls into the state record book. It was a day the 12 girls - Gigi Glogovac, Alex Ballinger, Jessica Bailey, Marissa Moya, Amanda Bohl, Jill Dupre, Taylor Parsons, Keana Prahl, Micah Blakely, Daisey Jones, Esmie Venegas and Breana Johnston - will remember forever. It's something they will tell their kids and grandkids about. The day they were the best in the state.

The day started with a police escort down Geiger Grade, and coach Todd Hess said he expected an escort back into town. You will never know how many people greeted the team because I think half the town was at Lawlor Events Center on Saturday.

Hess said there would be a parade to honor the team at noon today, and that no doubt will be a big thrill for the team.

"When we win, the whole town celebrates," Hess said. "When we lose, the town loses with us. We have such great fans."

Several students, including a boys basketball player, came into the tunnel so they could congratulate the girls when they left the locker room.

Hess talked about reaching goals this season and obviously the Muckers did exactly that.

Would anything short of a state title ruined the season for the Muckers?

"It would have been hard to get over," said Bailey, a senior. "We worked so hard to get here."

"If we hadn't won we would have taken it hard, but it still would have been a good year," Dupre added.

The championship certainly capped a brilliant career for Glogovac, who will go down as the Muckers' career leader in points, though Hess hasn't totaled her career points up yet. She ended up as the Northern 1A Player of the Year, a well-deserved honor.

"She (Gigi) will go down as the best female basketball player Virginia City has ever had," Hess said.

When I asked Dupre what the future holds for VC girls basketball, she said she wasn't sure. Dupre said she didn't even know if Hess would be back to coach the team.

The cupboard isn't exactly bare, as Dupre and Parsons return along with sixth girl Esmie Venegas. The other returnees didn't get a lot of quality minutes this year, so it will be interesting to see if they can step into larger roles next year.

No matter what happens next year, I don't expect the support to change. It's a close-knit school where people truly care about each other.