Commentary by Caitlin Wardlow, Trib Sports Writer

The only time I’ve seen 15 weeks fly by this fast was when I found out I was going to be a big sister 16 years ago.

But for me – and I’m sure for most of the Marshall County boys’ basketball team – these past 15 weeks of games happened in the blink of an eye.

While I went to both the boys’ and girls’ games, Justin and I had pretty much split up writing the stories as I would write the boys’ and he would write the girls’. This required more focus on the boys’ basketball team for me. They were the first team at the Trib I had followed all the way through from the beginning of the season to the end.

I remember the first game I went to () and when I met coach Gillespie for the first time. The Marshals would go on to win the game, with Stephen Barga and Cory York being the top scorers. I remember talking to them after the game because Stephen had just ended football season and was already in basketball, and it was Cory’s first time playing varsity basketball.

I had only known of him for a couple weeks when Gunner was diagnosed with his brain tumor. I knew that Gunner and his entire family must be very important to this community when I saw the immediate outpouring of love and support for the Gillespie family. I remember the boys didn’t even want to play against Todd Central on Dec. 1 after hearing the news and without coach Gillespie there. Associate coach Ron Winemiller slipped seamlessly into coaching the team and came out with a win against Todd Central, 83-70.

I experienced my first Hoop Fest in December. Wow. There was so much going on and so many incredible teams that participated, I would have been fine if those three days lasted a whole week.

I couldn’t go to Fort Walton Beach with the team; I’m sure spending my time in the warm, sunny weather and watching basketball games all day would have been really tough. But they won two out of three games down there and I was glad to have the team back in Marshall County.

As a reporter, I try my hardest not to become attached to any teams at Marshall County, but I’ve discovered that very hard to do when everyone there is so talented. I would find myself silently cheering along with the fans at the basketball games or silently yelling at an official for his call.

The only thing harder than watching the boys fall to Paducah Tilghman in the second round of the 1st Region Tournament was interviewing coach Gillespie after the game. I waited for about 45 minutes after the game ended while he was in the locker room talking to his team. Many of the guys came out with tears in their eyes and coach Gillespie invited me in to do the post-game interview as we had done so many times before.

He said he didn’t really feel like talking a lot, and instead of asking questions, I just let him say what he wanted to say. Bottom-line was that he was going to miss this special group of guys. They went through so much over the last four months and overcame some big obstacles.

I’ve learned so much in the last four months just being around this team and Marshall County in general. The guys showed how important it was to come together as a family and support each other when times got tough.

If someone didn’t hit a free throw, there was also someone else encouraging him to not give up; he’d hit the next one. I know you see the support of teammates watching games on television or even going to the games, but there’s just something different about sitting right there on the sidelines and seeing the looks in their eyes and the sweat rolling down their face.

So I just wanted to say “thank you” to the boys’ basketball team and everyone involved with it. Your season may have ended, but there are so many wonderful things I know you all have yet to do.