Editor’s note: Sports editor Mike Norris ended his first season as Marion High School C-team basketball coach Monday.

As far as the score was concerned, it didn’t matter if the shot went in or not.

However, the fact it did was pretty cool.

Olivia Young’s 30-foot, three-pointer at the buzzer Monday ended the Marion High School girls’ C-team season with a 52-39 loss at Remington.

It was a tough season (we finished 3-12) but there were some positives along the way — ending with Young’s long buzzer-beater.

That will stick with me for a long time.

So will a game at Hoisington that ended with a much different feeling.

We were 0-4, but had played the past three games well. However, that night ended with a 42-7 loss.

In the locker room after the game, I continued to tell the girls we would win a game.

One of them piped-up, “Can we have a pizza party when we do?”

“Sure,” I told them.

Three games later, we defeated Halstead, and ended up winning three of four games during that mid-season stretch.

They will not let me forget that promise until I make good on it.

A victory in the first round of the Hesston tournament on Valentine’s Day ensured a chance to play in the third-place game.

We ended up losing to Southeast of Saline, 42-40, but the tournament was a great learning experience.

In between the losses and the wins were practices and bus trips.

At times, those could be interesting, and let’s just say the freshmen girls on the team have helped me prepare for when my daughter has a house full of girls at our home.

I had never coached girls before, and let me tell you, they are different from boys.

However, that’s not a bad thing. There are pluses and minuses to coaching both, and the girls on the MHS C-team usually had plusses to offer.

That was unless they were calling me “old,” or changing the subject during practice to something unrelated to basketball — not to mention something I didn’t need or want to hear.

In the end though, the freshmen, along with some help from the sophomores, improved from game-to-game.

I told them if they saw tape from the first practice compared to the last game, they would be shocked.

During the season, especially the first seven games, I know they grew tired of me telling them that improving, working hard, and having fun were the most important parts of the game.

However, they did all three, and as a coach that makes me proud.

So, Alex, Annie, Beth, Jessie, Olivia, Taylor, and the sophomores (you know who you are) thanks for making it a great year.

Now we just have to decide when we are going to have pizza.