Valpariso’s senior Raigan O’Hlek joked for his contribution to his first regional title winning team since 2004.
6 -Foot -1 forward/Center noted the energy of teammates such as Sofomore Guards Lillian Barns and Cadinus Clarke and Senior Forward/Center Baika Gordt.
“I feel old as a senior,” O’Halek said with laughter. “I am just trying to live with these girls. We have lilies, we have cadinas, all these little girls.
But O’ahelak has kept more for Valpaiiso (19-7), which will play 17 Noblesville (17-8) in the semi-finals of class 4A Laporte Semistate on Saturday. This is especially true at the top of the 1-3–1 zone of the vikings.
“We do not traditionally run it,” he said. “We put a big man at the top, and then we have a quick guard that is running the baseline at the bottom. We have a slightly nonsipult that way.
“This is a very active position on defense – going back and forth, just trying to create a little chaos and make some distortions.”
O’ahelak has influenced the bars by those efforts.
“I give him a lot of credit for playing the top,” said Barns. “She is really good in deflectting. She studies near. She can see where the ball is about to jump every time. Even if it meets her, it is right in front of her hand and she is almost there.
“She certainly causes a lot of trouble for another team on defense, deflects the pass, the straight line is getting on the way.
Ragan O’Hhellak of Walpariso, Brooke Lindsmith of Crown Point, on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 during a game in the first round of Class 4A Lowel section. (John Smirecch / Post Tribune)
The Gordt played that role in the previous season before facing a knee injury. Clarke also suffered a season-ending injury. By the end of the season, O’Hlek emerged as a starter.
“It became my job last year, and it was a big adjustment,” he said. “I was not used to play all those minutes. I go here and from there to play in all those minutes He place. This is tired.
“I was going into it. Bakka is one of my best friends, and I knew how good he was to play that place. It scared me at first. I had to fill those shoes. After a while, it was easy. It became easy, but now I am liked it. ‘ She is now a wing, and I now live on the top.
O’Hhelk steals an average of 5.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.5 support and 1.7 in this season. He has worked on his post moves and has worked for his benefits to use his frames and angles. Barns has seen.
Barns said, “He has certainly improved a lot in two years,” Barns said. “I can tell that she is getting a soft touch around the rim, getting more confident. She only brings a lot to our team.”
Valparaiso coach Candy Wilson was not sure that O’halek would reach that point. O’ahelak played as a new person in the Junior Varity Team and also for almost all of his Sophomore season. But then she became a top reserve and finally a starter in the previous season, when Vikings won their first sectional title since 2005.
Wilson said, “I told her last year: she was a pleasant surprise because I was not sure whether she was going to be a player or not,” Wilson said. “He had all the equipment, but he was not enough to simply with confidence. But, man, he moved it around and extended it last year and had a large part of it. Last year, this experience, it was thrown into that position, it really helped him. And this year, he is correct in it.
“She really stepped for us. She had all the skills, and her confidence has just increased and developed. She has grown up to accept that contact. She now has a good Dink Hook. Rebounding, she reaches there. She really is doing a good job. She is really a game to do everything. She is a sports-chaser.”
Senior Forward / Center Raigan O’Hlek has helped Walpariso win his first regional title since 2004. (Michael Osipoff / Post-Tribune)
O’ahelak has also become a leader for Vikings.
“He always has high energy, whether he is in court or on a bench,” said Barns. “She is always happy for everyone. If we make a shot, you can always listen to the ragan, jumping up and down. It takes you out of your mood. If you are in a bad mood. Well when you make a shot, you can hear it shouting. Personally, I find me laughing, and it makes me laugh, and it finds me in a better mood.”
Wilson agreed that the O’Hleck has developed in an important voice for the team.
Wilson said, “He is actually one in the locker room that will give everyone tweet – and also in court,” Wilson said. “If things are not going in the way they want, then it will be found on them.
“She will tell how it is for everyone, and they respect it. She is a friend with everyone. She has a kind heart. But she will speak her piece.”
O’Hhelk intends to study nursing at the college. She is already participating in a professional program to become a certified nursing assistant and is doing job shading in an emergency room of a hospital.
O’Helak will play another game before chasing the way of that career. She added tennis when she went to high school and was part of the Vikings No. 2 doubles team in the last two sessions.
“I started my new year out of curiosity,” she said. “I was so,” I am a freshman. Let me meet some new friends, I joined a game that I never tried. ” I was not very good in my new year, but I enjoyed it.
“I came back the year ago, and I improved a ton. I don’t know how, I do not know why I really pick up the racket when the weather starts. Now what the situation will play this year, who knows? I know I know that I enjoy a lot in the season. Then it is back to basketball.”
O’Hhelk is enjoying the deep postsen run in basketball. Last week, in Vikings’s 47–46 win against Northeuries in regional, Gordt made a Go-Farward basket on a pass from Clarke in Wanning Second, and Barns had a clutching block shot. Just after the game, O’Helak was asked if he was the block.
“I too could not process the question,” O’Helak said. “It was not me. It was Lily. But I was just ranking my mind. I didn’t even know what happened. I was so,” I don’t think it was me, but I don’t even know. ” All this was heavy in the moment, just so exciting.
“Me and my companions were crying. We were going crazy. It was just real. After the game, I was just in shock, like, ‘Did we really conquer that game? Like, what happened?” It took some time to set it. ,
Vikings will be filled with their hands again on Saturday. His next rival, Noblesville, won 65-56 in a regular season’s game among teams on 28 December. But O’ahelak is confident that he and his team may keep their teammates.
“I am very happy about this season,” O’Helak said. “I’ve come very close with girls, and it’s so much fun. We have a really young team, and there are many girls that I was not close to the previous year because we had many senior. So this year is like a fresh team, and it is good how close I have been with them. We are really the best friends and do everything together.
“I am really proud of us and how far we have come, and we are completely thinking that we can keep walking. We have really worked hard for it.”