With winter sports underway, the Lynbrook varsity girls’ basketball season has begun. With this season comes the final moment in senior Kerin Bartels’ basketball career. Bartels, a three-year varsity player for the Owls and the captain of this year’s team has proven a great leader and role model for the young team, which has a large amount of juniors and some sophomores this year.

To go along with her success on the court, Coach Steve Locicero is also impressed with the leadership she brings to the team: “Kerin Bartels is a great leader who puts the team before self.” LoCicero also added, “She is a pleasure to coach, and I value her leadership. She plays the game with great effort and is a three-point shooter who also has an inside game.” Bartels commented on what she does to be a team leader: “The most important thing I can do as a senior leader on the team is to instill energy into our team and to always encourage my teammates to do their best.

Her defense and three-point shooting has gotten the attention of her teammates. “She is such an aggressive defensive player and is able to shoot the 3 in critical parts of the game to keep us in it,” said junior teammate Kayleigh Stalter. Something else that stands out about Bartels is her relationship with her teammates. “Playing with Kerin is very fun; she is such a good teammate and player, but she also knows when to take things seriously and stop joking around,” stated Stalter.

Bartels knows what it takes to win with Lynbrook, as the Owls won the conference in her sophomore year. She and the rest of the team hope to get to that spot once again, but they value the journey just as much. “My expectation for myself this year is to just keep on being a team player and be a leader for my teammates,” commented Bartels. The Owls have started the season 3-1, with the one loss being to undefeated Mineola, but it is a start that could lead Bartels back to where her Lynbrook basketball career began: a conference championship.

With her Lynbrook basketball career ending, Bartels looked back on some of her favorite moments on the team and what it was like playing on this team for the past three years: “My favorite memory has to be winning our conference when I was a sophomore. It brought intensity to the playoffs, and we won two rounds.” Bartels added, “Playing on this team has been the highlight of my time here at LHS. I have always had the best teammates who make playing for this team so fun.” As Bartels’ time with the Owls comes to an end, there is no doubt, that her impact as a player and leader will be remembered by the Lynbrook girls’ basketball team for years to come.