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Lowellville’s Hvisdak, Carlson, Moore own amazing 55-1 league record
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Lowellville High’s girls basketball team has three 1,000 point scorers. From left are seniors Emily Carlson, Ashley Moore and Taylor Hvisdak.
Lowellville
Nearly nine years ago, John Paul Hvisdak may have thought he was just taking his daughter, Taylor, and her friends to the YMCA for an afternoon of recreation.
But what he really did was lay the foundation for one of the most successful classes in Lowellville girls basketball history.
“He’s the reason why we got so involved in basketball,” Ashley Moore said.
Moore and Emily Carlson were best friends since kindergarten. When they were in third grade, Taylor joined their class and they all bonded over basketball.
The rest is history.
“Playing with these girls has been my whole life,” Carlson said. “My whole life has been dedicated to basketball and having these girls, my best friends, playing with me has created so many memories.”
It’s only fitting that three will be forever enshrined together in the Rockets’ history books.
All three players — starters as freshmen — recorded their 1,000 point this year.
“In eighth grade, I remember thinking that once I got into high school, I could score 1,000 points in my career,” Carlson said. “It’s an amazing accomplishment for all three of us to do it.”
While, for good reason, they may be grouped together, they are all three different girls. Lowellville coach Tony Matisi is the most proud of each of their individual attributes.
“And that’s what makes them so special and great,” Matisi said.
“Ashley is probably our best pure shooter. She’s so hot when she’s in a streak.
“Emily is downright a great dribbler. She can drive, cross you over and make you look silly.
“Taylor has great moves and is a great finisher.”
With such pure talent, is there really much for a coach to do with his players?
“They’ve made us work to try and find things,” Matisi said. “Our responsibility is to make sure their offense is as god as their defense.
“They make us work a little bit harder as coaches just to find something to coach them on.”
Moore can assure you, though, that without the coaches — they wouldn’t be as successful. And Hvisdak may sum it up best.
“If it wasn’t for our coaches, we wouldn’t be as focused as we are,” Moore said. “They definitely keep us in line.”
Hvisdak chimed in: “We have our ability and we take his coaching and that’s what has made us so good.”
Aside from the coaches, the girls have had plenty of people to look up to. Up until they were on the varsity team, the girls were regulars at Lowellville girls basketball games.
“Six or seven years ago, they were in the front row wearing t-shirts of the high school players cheering them on,” Matisi said.
Now, their role is reversed.
“You walk down the halls and there’s kids screaming your name and waving at you and they’re all cheering for us at the games like we would used to do,” Hvisdak said.
“It’s a great feeling being a role model for the younger girls,” Moore said.
Laughing, Carlson said, “I’ve even had to sign a few autographs. It was cute.”
Already legends with a 55-1 career Inter-Tri County League Tier Two record, they turn their attention to their final postseason. With plenty of experience (senior Kaye Solak and junior Rachel Durbin are key contributors), the Rockets (18-2) are prepared for strong tournament run to close out their amazing careers.
A district, regional and maybe even state trophy would surely look nice on a shelf next to those YMCA participation awards they started receiving back in third grade.
“The last two or three weeks, I’ve never seen them as focused as they have been,” Matisi said. “They want to get this done.”
Most importantly — they’re healthy.
Hvisdak injured her wrist during the stretch run sophomore year and was out with a torn ACL last year. Solak had the same injury.
“It’s something I had to be cautious with,” Hvisdak said. “This year, I’m definitely 100 percent and I’m working hard to stay 100 percent.”
The injury still haunts her, and Matisi, but they’re focused on what they can control.