COLUMN: Hornets have lots to be proud of

By JACK HITTINGER
Daily News
NORMAL — Courtney Myers placed her fingertips on the ball carefully, not wanting to smudge the signatures. Her eyes still a bit red from tears, she still smiled when holding the ball. It meant something more to her — to the team — than just the names of the Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City girls that wrote on it in blue and gold ink.

CHBC’s run of area — and state — basketball dominance has meant more to the four communities that participate in the co-op than just wins and losses.

“It’s made the communities grow together,” the CHBC senior said following her team’s heartbreaking loss in the state title game Saturday. “It’s been pretty awesome.”

Sure, there were more than a few tears following the loss to Aquin. And that’s OK. It takes getting that far — being good — to make it hurt that much.

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“This has been a pretty good run — we should be happier than we are,” CHBC junior Micah Jones said. “We’ll be happy probably next week sometime.”

Still, CHBC has made its mark, on the court and off.

“These kids have set a solid foundation for CHBC and instilled in the kids that a lot of it is about working hard in the offseason, and that good things happen when you work hard,” head coach Carolyn Wendte said. “The seniors don’t know it yet, but they’re going to come back and give talks to my younger kids about how hard you have to work for this dream.”

The five CHBC graduating seniors — Myers, Faith Wendte, Marissa Klee, Bailey Doty and Emily Wheeler — will leave with a 99-26 combined record in four years. That includes two trips to Normal and three regional titles, and a school-record win total (29) this season.

But the lasting sense of community, of friendship between girls from different towns, different schools, is something they’ll keep for the rest of their lives.

“I’ve met millions of friends at CHBC,” Myers said. “I probably wouldn’t know the Cowden people as much (if we hadn’t been so successful as a team). I don’t know. Just going to state, both years, has been great. It’s just been a great time.”

After the game, the team left Redbird Arena to find a throng of fans — parents, students and random community members — waiting for them outside the door in the nippy afternoon. People they didn’t even know, people from Cowden, from Herrick, from Beecher City, gave them compliments.

Faith Wendte appreciated it. She, too, felt the sting of the loss. But when a fan she recognized, but didn’t know, approached her following the game, it made her feel better.

“There are a lot of teams out there that wish they had that second-place trophy right now,” he said, giving her a pat. “You have a lot to be proud of.”
“I don’t know that guy, but I know everybody else,” she said with a laugh though some tears. “It makes us feel better.

“It’s amazing how many people came up here this weekend, it means a lot to us.”

The CHBC contingent filled their section of Redbird Arena, and students from both schools (and others) came out in full force for an impressive cheering section.

For Myers, that fanbase is one of the main reasons why the team has been so successful in her run as Hornets.

“I love our fanbase,” she said. “They’re our sixth man, they always have been. They’ve followed us forever.”

It’s a favor that Myers, who goes to Beecher City, wants to return this week when the Cowden-Herrick boys play in their first-ever sectional game. This despite the fact that the Hornet boys beat the Beecher City boys in regionals. It’s a rivalry, but it’s a friendly one — all because of CHBC’s success.

“We’re all kind of hoping we can go and support them because they’ve all supported us up here,” she said. “We’re not together in volleyball, but we’ve got friends who we all get along with on the court (in volleyball) and push each other to play harder.
“It’s awesome. We’ve come closer as a community, closer as friends.”

And although these seniors ended the basketball part of their journey on a sour note, they’ll always have remember the hard work and dedication it took them to put the program — and all four towns, Shumway included — on the map.

“It feels really good (to have helped build this program),” Faith Wendte said. “There’s a lot of talent on this team, and there will still be talent on this team without seniors.”