Three Tahoma High Schoolers all have one thing in common — they love basketball and have to juggle homework.

Lily Knutson

Knutson is a 17-year-old junior who plays forward for the Tahoma High School girls basketball team.

She said she has been playing basketball since she was in second grade and has loved it ever since.

“I was always really tall, so my parents kind of pushed me to play it because I was tall and I ended up really liking it,” Knutson said.

At 5 foot 11, Knutson is taller than the average high school girl.

Being tall does give her an advantage, but that’s not why Knutson plays. She plays for the challenge.

“I like going into games not knowing what the outcome is. It’s based on how hard you play,” she said.

Another challenge is being a full-time student and playing varsity basketball.

She said getting homework done and managing her time is really hard.

According to Knutson, she has to do her homework on the bus ride to games, since after games she gets home at around 9 or 9:30 p.m.

Prepping for the next day at school isn’t the only prepping Knutson does. She also has to prepare herself before games.

“Before a game I like to do this thing every once in a while where I sit with my legs like on the wall so the blood from my legs rushes back down to by body, and when I run I feel a lot lighter,” she said.

She said she learned this process from her yoga teacher.

Knutson said when she and her team win a game, it’s an indescribable feeling. She said it makes her very happy to see her and her team succeed.

After a loss, she said it is very important to move onto what’s next and forget about it.

When Knutson graduates, she said she will miss everything about Tahoma.

“I love the coaches, I love the staff (and) I love the underclassmen. It will be hard to leave that,” she said.

Looking to the future, Knutson said she is thinking about playing basketball in college. She said she hasn’t totally decided on a college yet, but when she does pick one, she thinks she wants to do pre-med.

Ashlyn Hohn

Hohn is a 17-year-old senior who plays guard for the Tahoma Bears.

She said she has been playing basketball since she was in elementary school.

“I started playing because you know your parents just kind of put you into sports and (you’re) stuck with it because I really enjoyed it,” Hohn said.

According to Hohn, she doesn’t just love the game, she loves her team and getting to make lifelong friends with them.

“I love the connections that I make with my team, like especially this year. We have a really good team that we were able to bond with and click with each other,” she said.

The hardest part about being a student athlete, according to Hohn, is balancing homework with practices and games. She said if a student athlete gets an ‘F,’ they must go to what she called a “study table” and work on getting their grade up.

She said this is hard for athletes sometimes because they have to go to practices as well as the study table.

As far as preparing for a game, Hohn said she enjoys the bus rides to away games.

“Usually on the bus ride to away games we listen to music and we all just get hyped up as a team together,” she said.

Hohn also said the varsity team will watch JV game tapes before their games to get themselves in the right mindset to play.

When the preparations for games pay off and the Bears win a game, Hohn said it’s an amazing feeling.

“It’s always really awesome, it’s fun just to go into something you’re not really sure you’ll win, being able to work together, it’s just always fun being able to be hyped about that,” she said.

When the team loses, Hohn said they must come together as a team and pick each other up.

She said they will talk about what they did right and wrong during a game, but try to focus on the positive.

When Hohn graduates she said she will miss her team the most.

“I know everyone kind of splits ways and other people will still be at the high school and other people will be going off to college,” Hohn said. “A lot of my really good friends are on the team so I just think I’ll miss playing with them the most.”

After graduation, Hohn said she has her mind set on playing basketball for a local community college and wants to major in sports medicine.

Adyson Clabby

Clabby is 17 years old, as well, and a senior. She plays point guard for Tahoma.

She said she has been playing basketball since she was 5 years old and hasn’t stopped loving it.

She said her parents are who got her into the game of basketball because they grew up playing the game and she wanted to be just like them.

Clabby said her favorite aspect of the game is how competitive it is.

“I love being apart of a sport that’s so competitive no matter what’s going on you get that rush and you feel so excited when you start, it’s just one of the best feelings in the world,” she said.

Playing feels like second nature, Clabby said, and it’s fun to be part of a team that’s full of your friends.

With playing basketball in high school also comes homework. She, like Knutson and Hohn, thinks that balancing homework and having time for it along with practices and games is the hard.

She said sometimes she is up until midnight finishing homework and getting up early in the morning and doing it all over again gets tiring.

To prepare herself for a game, Clabby said she plugs her headphones in and listens to her favorite music that gets her pumped up.

With all the prepping comes winning sometimes. Clabby said winning a game is one of the best feelings in the world.

“You feel like you’re on cloud nine when you win,” she said.

When a loss does happen though, Clabby said she goes back through game tapes to see what she was doing wrong and tries to not make the same mistakes again.

As a senior graduating this year, Clabby said she will miss her team the most.

“I’m going to miss seeing all these people. You know I’ve grown up with all these kids and it’s going to be sad to not be able to play with them on the court next year,” she said.

Once graduated, Clabby said she doesn’t have any set plans, but if any basketball opportunities show up, she will take them. If not, she said she will go to a two-year or four-year college to study physical therapy.